Even though the State has a State-level Water Testing Centre here and some Division-level centres working in municipality areas, the Public Health Department is yet apply to get NABl (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibrations laboratory) for any of them. House Building and Urban Development Minister Puspendra Singhdeo informed this in the State Assembly while replying to a question put by Congress member Naba Kishore Das and additional questions put by other members.
The Minister said the State--level Water Testing Centre is examining 16 parameters of water. They are turbidity, colour, taste and order, PH valule, total dissolved solid, total hardness, chloride, sulphate, chloride, fluride, nitrate, calcium, magnesium, iron, alkanity, residual clorine, coli-form germ and e-coli conditions. But the Division-level Testing Centres and mobile kits only test conditions like total turbidy, PH value and residual chlorine before. If required, water from division level are sent to the State-level Testing to test coli-form and other conditions, the Minister said.
The Minister said the Public Health Division Testing Centres have no facility to test heavy metal , toxic material and radioactive contains of water. But, to adopt these facilities at the State-leve Water Testing Centre located at Palasuni here, a tender has been floated for purchase of equipments. Plans are afoot to introduce outsourcing/PPP management for the division testing centres at Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Brahmapur, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Puri.