Access to clean and safe drinking water is vital to the public – Ro Filipe

It is important for the public to access safe and clean drinking water and to avoid the use of contaminated water which can cause diseases and lead to death.

While speaking at the handing over of the new lab equipment for the Department of Water and Sewerage, the Minister for Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport, Ro Filipe Tuisawau says these equipment will enhance the testing capacity for their lab.

Ro Filipe says the equipment include the fume cupboard which will provide safety during analytical chemistry work, the glassware and apparatus for bacteriology, that will enhance multiple tests and the new distiller to ensure the lab has a stock of distilled water which is very important for any lab.

He says with the statistics that they have, the challenge is to ensure that people have access to clean drinking water and apart from the growing demand, climate change, deforestation and increasing agricultural activities are other challenges that they have to deal with.

He says as the regulatory arm of the water sector, carrying out tests in their treatment utilities is one of the primary functions of the department to ensure that they are compliant with the set standards.

The Minister says the information gathered from these tests will identify hot spot areas that need improvement or intervention for water treatment.

The World Health Organisation Team Coordinator for NCD and Lifestyle, Doctor Tomo Kanda says it is vital to monitor the use of quality and clean water at all times.

Doctor Tomo says the introduction of these lab equipment to the Department of Water and Sewerage will help to detect contaminated water which can cause harm to the public.

The cost of the lab equipment is $92,000.00.