KARACHI, March 28: Fifty per cent of bottled water in the country does not meet quality standards and almost 40 per cent of the deaths that occur in the developing countries, according to the World Health Organisation, are due to waterborne diseases.
The target population of such ailments is usually children and elderly folks. Therefore, a water assessment laboratory is an initiative to analyze water and avoid diseases caused by it.
These views were expressed by Merck Marker Managing Director Juergen Koenig at the inauguration ceremony of the water assessment laboratory in the Institute of Environment Studies, the University of Karachi. KU Vice-Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui presided over the programme.
Mr Koenig highlighted water hazards that the developing countries had to deal with. He said his company had provided the lab with equipment and chemicals needed for water assessment. Mostly the water safety measures taken by the government were meant for the urban areas while the rural population had no access to such preventive steps, he said.
Dr Pirzada Qasim, who inaugurated the lab, thanked Merck Marker for their support to the IES in developing a high-tech laboratory which would not only benefit researchers and industrialists but also ordinary people who wanted to know about the quality of the water they get. He said pubic-private partnership had been very useful for the society and therefore it should continue.
Dr Moazzam Ali Khan, in charge IES, said the lab was a step taken for the betterment of civic facilities and environment in the country. Dr Nikhat Yasim, dean of science faculty, along with others spoke on the occasion.
The laboratory has been equipped with ion seductive meter, turbidity meter, Nova 60, conductivity meter, pH meter, oven, incubator and micro testing facilities.
According to the staff present there, the machines are capable of carrying out chemical and biological tests. All said, the tests are not going to be carried out free of cost and the ‘nominal’ fee that would be charged for the tests has not been decided yet, however, in charge IES said it was supposed to be far cheaper than the tests that were carried out in other labs.
