To ensure the supply of safe and clean drinking water for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs in Majha areas of State, the Punjab Government is going to set up a world class Hi-tech Multi District Water Testing Laboratory at Amritsar under the technical expertise of ‘Bhabha Atomic Research Centre’, Mumbai. This Testing Laboratory will be capable of testing Arsenic, Uranium and other Heavy Metals in drinking water. Disclosing this here today in press release, Water Supply & Sanitation Minister Mrs. Razia Sultana said that this Hi-tech Multi District Water Testing Laboratory will be the major source of providing clean drinking water in the Districts Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot and besides catering its services to other parts of Majha region. She said that besides conducting the testing of Arsenic, Uranium and other Heavy Metals, it will also be capable of testing basic parameters and bacteriological parameters of drinking water. She said that this advanced Lab is being established at Amritsar over an area of 8000 sq. ft. with the expenditure of Rs. 6 crore.Giving details about the ultra-modern equipment to be installed in hi-tech laboratory, the Water Supply Minister said that equipment like Inductively Couple Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) and Ion Chromatograph will be used in this lab for testing of Arsenic, Heavy Metals, Anions, Cations at ppt (parts per trillion) level in addition to the basic water testing equipment for basic parameters like Total Dissolved Solids, pH, Turbidity and Bacteriological Parameters like E.Coli and Total Coliform. “This lab will also help in monitoring the performance of the Arsenic removal plants being installed in these areas to provide safe drinking water”, She said.Divulging more, she said that as many as 4 other Multi District Labs are also being set up with latest equipments in Districts Sangrur, Moga, Hoshiarpur and S.A.S. Nagar which will cater the demand of remaining districts. The buildings for all these labs have been designed as per the latest norms and environmental safeguards. The cost of these labs works out to around Rs. 4.50 crore. “It is pertinent to mention that one Multi District Lab is already operational at Patiala and one Regional Advance Water Testing lab is also operational at SAS Nagar in which all heavy metals and radioactive metals are being tested, she added”.