India: DPCC proposes to expand state laboratories for water testing

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has proposed to increase state laboratories to enable real-time water testing throughout the national capital. Currently, the city relies on a single laboratory for such activity. The DPCC proposal aims to designate all laboratories in government colleges and those under the Delhi Jal board as state laboratories, boosting capabilities for large-scale water quality monitoring. The committee has also suggested the creation of a centralized digital platform for recognized laboratories to share water quality data in real-time. This would facilitate data collection and analysis across many institutions. To this end, the DPCC has instructed officials to expedite the installation of 32 Online Continuous Monitoring Stations (OCMS) along a stretch of the Yamuna River in Delhi. There is also a proposal to upgrade DPCC’s laboratory facilities with advanced equipment like Flue Gas Analyzers and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) instruments. These upgrades should strengthen pollution monitoring capabilities effectively.
The DPCC plans to issue a public notice inviting government institutions to assess and eventually support the proposals. An expert consultant’s appointment to oversee them is expected within a month. All these initiatives reflect a comprehensive approach to improving environmental monitoring and addressing pollution challenges in the Indian capital.