In view of its target to supply piped water to all the households by 2024, the State Government is planning to ensure ISO certification for water supplied by Government agencies.
The NITI Aayog has advised the State Governments to go for such an initiative to provide safe drinking water.
Official sources said that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has asked the State Government to chalk out plans for such an initiative as water supplied to households for drinking purpose is needed to be safe and hygienic.
The Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) is the National Standard Organization which has been assigned the job for standardisation of various products and, that way, IS 10500 has been specified for drinking water.
Under the IS 10500 specification, required tests would be conducted for availing ISO certification for quality water.
The IS 10500 compliance ensures that water supplied by urban local bodies and rural local bodies are safe and hygienic.
The Urban Development Department and the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Department will be taking up IS 10500 initiative as it is mandatory.
Sources said that several State Governments have started IS 10500 Certification for drinking water supplied through Government Agencies.
The Telangana Government has taken the lead in this regard and gone ahead for IS 10500 Certification for drinking water supplied in ULBs.
However, monitoring water has not yet received proper attention of the State Government, said sources.
As per the Uniform Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Protocol issued by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, at least 3,000 samples of water would be tested for quality monitoring every year for each district and subdivision-level.
Considering the workload specified in the protocol, Odisha requires more than 350 laboratories for 9.5 lakh water sources. Accordingly, infrastructure is needed to be in place.
He State Government would prepare an action plan for the purpose, said an official.