Water quality will be instantly monitored through a comprehensive water quality control system, Kooshyar Azam-Vaghefi, director of water and wastewater supervision department at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company said.
The NWWEC launched a database for monitoring water quality in 1999; however, the database failed to process all information across the country.
The debate to establish a comprehensive water quality control system capable of registering the quality of water in quality control laboratories all around the country began in 2010, according to the ministry of energy news agency. The recent infrastructure development and the internet improvement paved the ground for completion of the plan.
“Presently, information provided by 363 laboratories operating in rural water and sewerage companies and 429 ones operating in urban areas is being entered into this system,” Azam-Vaghefi said, underlining the vitality of instant monitoring of water distribution networks and reservoirs. “96 percent of water and wastewater companies are now connected to this system and information about chlorine, chemicals, and bacteria in water is instantly entered in the system,” he added.
Previously, the compiled data from different laboratories was registered in existent data bases with more than a two-month delay.
To secure the validity of the obtained data from laboratories, all the central laboratories in each province are required to acquire ISO 17025 certificate, the official said.
Water supply and sanitation in Iran has witnessed some important improvements, especially in terms of increased access to urban water supply, while important challenges particularly concerning sanitation and service provision in rural areas can be tackled by taking advantage of this comprehensive system. Institutionally, the ministry of energy is in charge of policy and provincial companies are in charge of service provision.
