The government has established ten water quality laboratories in different cities during last fiscal year to provide safe and clean drinking water to people, said Minister for Science and Technology, Nouraiz Shakoor Khan.
'Provision of clean drinking water is our priority and we are in process of setting up one water filtration plant in each district which would also have a water-testing lab to facilitate the process," he said while enumerating his Ministry's last year achievements here on Monday.
He said out of the 10 labs, water quality laboratories at Muzaffarabad, Mansehra, Sargodha, Multan and Sahiwal have already been made functional. In addition to the above, six existing laboratories at Islamabad, Lahore, Bahawalpur, Tando Jam, Quetta and Peshawar have been strengthened and upgraded during the period, Nouraiz added.
The minister said the establishment of low cost water filtration plants and testing labs in 107 districts would cost the government Rs 1.8 billion, adding that construction of further 18 water quality labs will be undertaken during this fiscal year. Similarly, during this year water quality monitoring of around 2000 water supply schemes will be completed, he added.
The minister said under Enhancement and Management of Groundwater Scheme in Balochistan the physical work on leaky dams, inverted wells, cheek structures for rainwater harvesting and water management activities will continue during this year.
He said Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has implemented a project in Cholistan to solve the water problem. The PCRWR had also developed low cost desalination unit for the purification of saline water, he said.
Giving further details, Nouraiz Shakoor said PCRWR collected a total of 25,514 water samples and completed diagnostic tests through different development projects during last one year. Talking about some projects completed by Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR), another department of the Ministry, he said international accreditation of its units at Karachi and Lahore are in process for achieving ISO 17025.
Similarly, during the period classes for training in dimension stone are near to be started in the dimension stone center at PLC Peshawar and test analytical services in various fields were rendered to 3500 clients. Calibration services for instruments to 4500 clients in various sectors and advisory services regarding ISO certification were provided to 15 organisation for their accreditation. Moreover, he said the organisation would establish a Technical Training Center at Gwadar at a cost of Rs 189.36 million.
Nouraiz Shakoor said during the period Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) arranged 382 seminars and courses on international requirements of quality to which more that 17,000 participants benefited.
This organisation also developed and implemented projects in collaboration with China, Norway and Unido for enhancing bilateral and capacity building. He said the organisation has planned to maintain and expand the current labs and certification bodies for which accreditation of 31 labs and 2 certification bodies will be achieved during this year.
Regarding National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), he said it is performing a scientific study for extension of continental shelf from 240000 sq km to 290000 sq km. He said NIO Observatory at Gwadar is completed to monitor sea level rise, global warming and tidal waves etc. The minister said in Bundal Island project a computer model will be prepared based on the collected data for protection, conservation and reclamation of land.
He said the other department of the Ministry, National Institute of Electronics (NIE) is focussing on software development and training in advanced databases and would establish a training lab for professionals in database development. The NIE has also planned to establish high-tech training facility for engineers, scientists and students to design semiconductor components and integrated circuits.