There is a protocol for taking a sample of water to be analyzed. If samples are taken without respecting the protocol the analysis would not be of any use.Sterile containers are first to be collected from the KINGS INSTITUTE GUINDY for taking the samples after payment of the fee.Please find below an extract from my post of 11/12/2011 with also information about how to take the sample to the Kings institute Guindy. When you are indeed taking a sample, please respect the protocol. The sample must reach the Lab within a certain time of it being taken. Please take samples before competent and credible witnesses, noting the time, date, flat no, and the location of the tap from which it is drawn.The overall quality of the waters still leaves much to be desired.A. Reverse Osmosis R.O. water, for drinking, cookingB. Water for washing, showering, washing dishes and clothesC. Recycled Water for the flushesD. Water for the recreation facilities - swimming pool,jacuzziE. Garbage disposalF. Dumping of sewage residues into the next compound(s)Since we are not aware of procedures put in place by the builder to ensure safety of the waters supplied, we are obliged to take our own precautions. I would like to to see complete transparency in the processing methods and delivery of the waters to our flats; end to end. Whilst the first part is apparently being taken care off at a snail s pace, water at the receiving end should also be analysed. If any of you can take a sample from your kitchen RO water tap for the drinking water and another from a bathroom tap, and get both the samples analysed at the King's Institute Guindy; we would have achieved something independently of the builder. Our only precautions should be to take the samples in front of credible witnesses who will accept to sign a declarative report and to take the samples following the instructions given by the King's Institute. The declarative report along with the analysis given by the King's Institute should then be published/made available to each of the 572 households and to the builder to take remedial action; Please read on below.

PROCEDURES TO BE ADOPTED BY THE PUBLIC FOR TESTINGWATER SAMPLES FOR ANALYSIS OF POTABILITY AND OTHER TESTS.Water samples for potability test are accepted at this Laboratory "WATER ANALYSIS LABORATORY"Department of Public Health and PreventiveMedicine, King Institute of Preventive Medicine Campus, Guindy, Chennai 600032. Phone No. 2341025.Public may approach this Laboratory with a requisition letter stating theirrequirement for test with sampling details like, nature of source, purpose oftest etc..Sterile containers along with printed prescribed proforma forfurnishing full details may be collected at this end after remitting therequired analytical fee as advance payment which varies for purposes likedrinking, building construction, Industrial purpose, Swimming Pool purpose,Food processing etc&ldots;Analytical fees may be paid either by cash or Demand Draft drawn in favour of Chief Water Analyst, KingInstitute Campus, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.Some of the important analytical charges are listed below per sample:Routine drinking purpose Rs.500-00Drinking purpose as IS 10500 - 1991 Rs.3200-00(except pesticides)Building constructions Rs.800-00Industrial purpose Rs.600-00Food processing Rs.3200-00

After payment and at the time of collection of sterile container for bacteriological analysis necessary instructions will be furnished. Water should be submitted in 5 Liters. White plastic container for chemical Analysis.

As per the instructions sample should be submitted to this Laboratorywithin 24 hours. If it exceeds the time the sterile containershould be preserved in Ice so as to reach this Laboratory within 48 hours.Public will be guided at this Laboratory for further details at the time ofremitting analytical charges.

The link :http://www.tnhealth.org/dphpmihh.htm

Unathorized dumping of garbage and sewage waste into the neighbourhood compounds should be stopped immediately. Such wastes trickle through the soil and will reach the ground water table from which we take our water supply polluting it even further. Not only are we polluting our own supply, but also that of all the other thousands of Nolamburis.

Waters at the recreation facilities should be analyzed daily and the results put up. Why is'nt this being done? Increasing the chlorine in the swimming pool water could kill most germs but will dissuade us from using the pool often. And frankly, wallowing in unclean water is a pleasure which I voluntarily concede to others.

I am more and more convinced that there will no transparency in the processing and supply or quick improvement in the situation of the waters without the 572 families residing or coming to reside in the complex making their voices heard by the builder. So it is for each of us to act, to encourage those who have put themselves in the frontlines for improvement of the facilities each of us are entitled to. Quality can always be improved, but we cannot and should not accept any reduction in quality. Where there is no exigency, where only a few speak out, quality will not follow.

So till such time when we can get a clear-cut indication vetted by an independent authority of the quality of the waters, each of us should take adequate precautions:

filtering and boiling of the R.O. water before using for intake, cooking, washing hands, teeths, vessels etc, filtering of water for the showers and taps in the bath-rooms, the washing machines.

We should continue to ask the authorities for the complex to be linked to the Corporation water grid to reduce our dependance on bad quality ground water which is under our feet.We should also be connected to the sewage disposal grid our garbage taken away to the authorized dumping/treatment areas.

I have posted several files on WATER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS in the file area of our group site.. Please consult them, most of the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION, Geneva, documents are readable even by the non-specialists which most of us are.

Awareness on the quality of water, is an essential ecological value which should be shared by the widest possible public and transmitted to the generations to come. REMEMBER WITHOUT WATER, LIFE WOULD NT EXISTREMEMBER WITHOUT GOOD WATER, NO GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE.