KOCHI: Alarm bells have started to ring as Kochiites have no options left to check the quality and content of the water. The Regional Analytical Lab in Kakkanad, which was the first option in the district to check the water, is in limbo. The non-availability of advanced modern equipment is the reason cited by the officials in the laboratory. Just a month back, the Kochi Corporation had seized nine tanker lorries under the label ‘potable water,’ near Vyttila, which contained high number of E.Coli. Usually, most of such samples collected are sent to this lab. A health department official has also confirmed this. Therefore, the reason assumes high intensity as public and the institutions in the district resort to regional analytical lab for water testing. The officials inside the regional analytical lab confirmed lack most modern equipment which can help in testing the water content. When asked, government analyst S P Thankachan quipped that there is a shortage of state of the art equipment. “The government is yet to allot funds. Once it is done, this issue will be resolved,” he said. He was also not ready to comment on the department submitting a memorandum regarding the required equipment.
One of the officials at the laboratory said that they usually get about twenty samples for testing. “With the available equipment, it takes time to check all the samples we get. Owing to this impediment, we can test only about ten to twelve samples,“ sources said.