Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, was enacted by the State Legislature in Jammu and Kashmir more than six years back, laying much thrust on judicious use of water on the pattern of power connections to generate revenue for the department of Public Health Engineering strictly as per the consumption. What is surprising is J and K does not have a state of art water testing lab where water samples can be tested to detect presence of harmful toxics such as zinc, pesticides, etc. which cannot be detected by normal water testing procedures. The Department of Public Health Engineering has the regular agenda of providing piped water to more and more households in towns and villages and under several phased schemes this programme is being carried forward. People, by and large, are ignorant about water quality parameters such as heavy and toxic elements, pesticides, chlorine by-products and bacteriological contamination. This is just because the State doesn’t have modern water testing laboratories to warn and guide the consumers. The Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has found it disappointing that there is no laboratory worth the name in any one of the three regions of the State. Obviously, it means that there are more health risks for the people because water is one of the main carriers of diseases if it is not treated before it is bottled or piped for supply. The provisions of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) envisage many more activities and these should be undertaken as per the guidelines. In most of the cases sponsored by the Centre, the accompanying instructions and road map have usually been deviated from and this causes irritation in relationship. Taking the situation in view, the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation agreed to provide two State level and one regional level water testing laboratories for the State. Of the two State- levels one each will be installed in the cities of Srinagar and Jammu and the regional laboratory will function in Leh. Once completed and made functional, hopefully, the new laboratories would be able to provide the much needed relief to the people by supplying clean and safe drinking water.
