Wasa to upgrade water testing lab

LAHORE: Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has decided to upgrade its water testing laboratory at an estimated cost of Rs143.82 million, after which the agency will be able to test city’s water independently and accurately.

The plan of upgrading Wasa’s water testing laboratory was pending for a long time and the present management accelerated the process by submitting a final proposal to the chief minister, who approved the project, sources in Wasa said, adding the project will be completed within the next 18 months.

With this laboratory, Wasa would be able to monitor a total of 36 parameters, sources said and maintained that out of these 36, the most important tests are of temperature, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), ammonia, chlorides, sulfate / sulphide, fluoride and heavy metals i.e., arsenic, chromium, iron etc.

Sources in Department of Planning and Development confirmed that the laboratory would be a three storied facility with waste water testing department on the ground floor, drinking water testing on the first floor and officials on the third floor.

Sources said presently Wasa has no in-house equipment to conduct analysis of wastewater toxins which is causing complications in devising a mechanism of disposal of different natures of wastewater being generated in and around the provincial metropolis.

The city of Lahore has a population of over 11 million and the city houses not just the domestic habitat but a flurry of cottage and informal industry, including that involved chemical byproducts. In addition to this, the periphery of the city is home to industries that release their wastewater into surface water bodies.

“While the wastewater, to the naked eye, is sewage, there really is a lot of complex detail to the nature of pollutants in a particular wastewater sample”, explained Shazia Ilyas, Water Treatment Expert with specialisation in membrane engineering/technology, a cutting-edge technology for water and wastewater treatment. It is virtually impossible to devise a proper treatment methodology without having the capacity to meticulously deconstruct the sample through modern technological interventions, she explained.

Pollution from human and animal waste also affects nearly one in three rivers in Asia and Africa, and some 3.4 million people die each year of diseases associated with pathogens in water, according to the World Health Organisation.

The intensifying cholera outbreaks with every passing year have been a proof of the authenticity of this issue, environmental experts said. While Wasa has tried to pull the ends together by employing the services of other government facilities like the PCSIR Laboratories and at times Punjab University as a fallback mechanism, there are several issues with this approach, they said and maintained that the most important issue with engaging outside resource was that although the labs are decently equipped, the lack the state-of-the-art specificity required for the job when it comes to meticulous laboratory analysis merited for these purposes.

The state of our rivers, especially Lahore’s native River Ravi is no less than that of a sewer, said Noreen Haider, Project Coordinator Climate Action Project. There needs to be a thorough mechanism to deal with this problem because it is almost beyond saving.

When contacted, Wasa Managing Director, Zahid Aziz said the authority is completely aware of the issues being faced due to lack of capacity in this regard. “We are already in the process of getting approval for the construction of the state-of-the-art Wasa laboratory equipped with latest instruments,” he told.

He said that because most of the reported health problems are directly or indirectly related to water quality the need for efficient development, utilisation and monitoring of the water resources is imperative on emergent basis for the provision of safe clean drinking water conforming to WHO and EPA standards.

Limited equipment to check limited water quality parameters is insufficient under the changing environment which has necessitated this intervention. Also the existing instruments are old and required replacement and many techniques under practice obsolete with less accuracy, he told.

The MD said that much of the background work for this laboratory has already been done, and for finalisation of design and layout of Wasa laboratory to make it state-of-the-art and compatible with the good water testing laboratories the facilities and layout of the PCSIR, PCRWR, UET Lahore, Punjab University and Forman Christian College University Laboratories was studied.