DPCC floats tender for mobile lab van to check Yamuna’s water quality

Officials said the lab will facilitate sample collection and testing from areas where OLMS have not been installed. The mobile lab will also be equipped to measure faecal coliform.

New Delhi: The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has issued a tender to procure and set up a mobile laboratory van for real-time assessment of water samples from the Yamuna, officials saidon Sunday.

This comes even as the DPCC installs 41 real-time online continuous monitoring stations (OLMS) across the river and at key drains. (HT archive)

This comes even as the DPCC installs 41 real-time online continuous monitoring stations (OLMS) across the river and at key drains. Officials said the van will boost the DPCC’s efforts in real-time monitoring of water samples from different parts of the river in Delhi, including the highly-polluted 22-km stretch between Wazirabad and Okhla.

HT reported on April 2 that these OLMS, six of which will be installed along the Yamuna and 35 at major drains in the city, are expected to be operationalised in May.

Officials said the lab will facilitate sample collection and testing from areas where OLMS have not been installed. The mobile lab will also be equipped to measure faecal coliform, a key indicator of sewage in the river, they added.

“The mobile water quality monitoring system comprises a van with the facility for water sample collection and analysis in the field. Such a van can negotiate narrow roads and collect samples with simultaneous analysis in the field thus providing a vital facility to map areas not covered by conventional fixed OLMS,” the tender states. It adds that the van will also provide rapid response capability during contamination incidents allowing immediate investigation, corrective action, and reporting.

“In addition, it will support routine surveillance, random inspections, and special drives across zones, strengthening preventive monitoring and early detection of water quality issues,” said the tender.

The plan for setting up a mobile lab was first approved at a DPCC board meeting in December 2023. At the time, the DPCC had passed a plan to set up 10 OLMS and a mobile lab.

HT’s April 2 report also flagged that these OLMS will not measure faecal coliform.

Currently, water quality monitoring is carried out manually, with samples collected once a month from eight locations — Palla, Wazirabad, ISBT Bridge, ITO Bridge, Nizamuddin Bridge, Okhla Barrage, Agra Canal and Asgarpur, after the confluence of the Shahdara drain. These are tested for pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen and faecal coliform, along with phosphate and surfactant levels that contribute to froth.

Other parameters include temperature, pH, conductivity, TDS, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), oil & grease (O&G), nitrate (NO3), total organic carbon (TOC), and phosphate (PO4).