Call it increased awareness or safety concerns, nowadays a large number of individuals and households voluntarily visit the water quality testing lab of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) here to get their drinking water tested.
At the Quality Control Regional Laboratory of the KWA at Vellayambalam, 100 people a month on an average use the lab to assess the quality of piped water supplied by the water utility. Water sourced from borewells and wells is also taken to the lab to test various parameters.
Safety awareness
“Many people take water to our lab for physical, chemical, and bacteriological analyses. It could be because of greater safety awareness or concerns about the quality of water supplied. A sum of Rs.850 is charged from the public for testing the water. Annually, we collect around Rs.5 lakh as fee from the public for testing water,” a senior KWA official said. For using the KWA facility, individuals and organisations should first remit a demand draft for Rs.850 for obtaining a sterile bottle from the lab for collecting the water sample.
Result in 7 days
Once the sample is handed over to the lab, the results are available within seven days.
The results may be delayed if the sample has to be sent to the State Referral Laboratory at Kochi for detecting the presence of heavy metals, the official said.
Sample collection
“In most cases, the sample is collected from drinking water taps inside the house. So, if some bacterial presence or of inorganic material is found, we will not be able to ascertain whether the source of contamination is our network, sump, or overhead tank inside the house. In several cases, tests have to be conducted after collecting water samples from a point before and after the meter,” the official said.
Contamination
Often, re-examination of samples reveals that the source of contamination is either the sump or overhead tank. “The sump and overhead tanks have to be cleaned at least twice a year by using bleaching powder to check accumulation of sediments and algae. Algae grow very vigorously if there is room for sunlight to penetrate. This could result in the growth of bacteria. We have had several such instances,” the official said.
People should keep their sumps and overhead tanks clean and sunlight-proof. Black plastic sheets could be used to cover the lids of the sumps and overhead tanks to keep out sunlight, the official said.
