Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is in process of establishing a permanent water quality monitoring network in rural areas to monitor changes in drinking water quality and groundwater levels.
On the basis of available information about quality of drinking water, water conditioning and filtration unit will be designed and installed for the provision of safe drinking water in problem areas, said an official at the Ministry here on Saturday.
The official said the safe availability of water would help reduce incidence of water borne diseases and extra expenditure in health sector resulting in overall improvement in socio-economic of the country. He said the water quality-monitoring network in rural areas is aimed at suggesting remedial measures for improving the quality of water for various uses.
He said the water monitoring system has been successfully established in urban areas under a programme and now it has been extended to the rural areas, holding about 65 per cent population of the country, he added.
The main objectives of Rs 38.71 million programme are to design and install water conditioning and filtration units for the provision of safe drinking water and to set-up a computer data base and link with data base of National Water Quality Monitoring Programme for preparing national water quality map.
Talking about the impact of the programme, the official said it would help identify quality status of water sources for drinking and associated uses in rural areas of the country covering 55 Tehsils. It has also been planned to design and install pilot low cost water filtration and conditioning units in the problem areas in collaboration with local governments and non-governmental organisations to ensure safe supply of drinking water.