The laboratory and production division of ENPHO has been providing its analytical services on water, air, soil, and food quality since its inception in 1990. ENPHO Laboratory has been accredited under the NEPLAS criteria (based on ISO 17025) by the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology, Government of Nepal. The main objective of this Laboratory is to contribute to ENPHO’s overall mission of transforming Nepalese society into a healthy and eco-friendly society through its services. This Laboratory has also established itself as an essential platform for research and development activities in the water, sanitation, and environment sectors.
The Laboratory division of ENPHO is well equipped with sophisticated instruments like atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS), ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometer, double distillation unit, four digital electronic balance, pH meter, electrical conductivity meters, automatic digestion and distillation units, and various types of oven, incubator, and the furnace for physical and chemical parameter analysis. Furthermore, it is equipped with several filtration units (Millipore and Del Agua units), a different range of incubators, autoclaves, and refrigerators for microbiological analysis.
Besides analysis, this unit of ENPHO has developed various types of water testing kits like water quality field test kit, arsenic test kit, free residual chlorine (FRC kit), Coliform Presence/Absence (P/A) vial, and water disinfecting chlorine solutions like Piyush, Piyush Plus and body belt incubator.
The laboratory and production division has also conducted different projects in the year 2072-2073. ENPHO Lab tested the drinking water quality in households of Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Lalitpur districts using ENPHO water test kits. The findings were disseminated through the ENPHO booth in the WASH campaign for the 25th-year celebration of ENPHO. Besides, water quality testing was also conducted in seven different earthquake-affected districts in terms of microbial parameters. Also, ENPHO also organized bacteriological water quality tests at street food vendors, and findings were later presented at ENPHO in a 25-year celebration program. ENPHO also conducted a project on “Study on efficiency of ceramic candle filters” in association with Water Resources Management Programme (WARM-P), HELVETAS Swiss Inter cooperation. Other projects carried out include, microbial water quality study in mid and far western regions of Nepal in support of HELVETAS and groundwater quality study of Kathmandu valley in the post-earthquake scenario. Additionally, the division has also been involved in various water quality testing and treatment training.
The new instruments introduced in the lab during FY 2012/2013 are:
Advanced UV spectrometer with in-built software:
This instrument makes spectrometric analysis more systematized and less prone to human error as it generates results on its own through its software, thus making result generation more efficient and accurate. The software can also be tailored according to our analytical requirements.
Automatic Distillation Unit:
The new distillation unit is a well-proven and tested model that supports automatic rapid distillation with high reliability, user-friendliness, and safety. The features such as time chemical (Sodium hydroxide) addition using a time-controlled pump, automatic steam generator, automated monitoring of the temperature increase timer controlled distillation, simple and manual change of sample tubes and protective door makes this instrument more user-friendly and efficient.
Digestion Unit:
This advanced digestion unit can be used to digest up to 12 samples at a time (6 more than the one previously used) hence facilitating faster analysis of the samples. In this unit, the temperature is homogenously distributed in this unit which minimizes the error in the digestion process and hence in the analysis.
The following section lists the details of the number of samples analyzed, kits, and reagents sales in the FY 2015/2016.
| Type of Sample | Number of samples analyzed |
|---|---|
| Total Drinking Water Samples | 2372 |
| Samples from the ENPHO project | 566 |
| Samples from other clients | 1806 |
| Total Waste Water Samples | 199 |
| Samples from ENPHO projects | 27 |
| Samples from other clients | 172 |
| Total Soil Samples | 46 |
| Samples from other clients | 46 |
| Total Urine, Food, Feed, and Other samples | 14 |
| Samples from other clients | 14 |
| GRAND TOTAL | 2631 |
Type and number of products sold during the FY 2015/2016
| Type of water testing kits | Number of kits sold |
|---|---|
| ENPHO Arsenic Test Kit | 7 |
| ENPHO Water Test Kit | 345 |
| FRC Test Kit | 435 |
| Coliform Presence/Absence(P/A) vial | 23691 |
| ENPHO body belt incubator | 135 |
| Piyush | 518531 |
| Piyush Plus | 64089 |
| Chlorine (1%) | 1351 |
Individual reagents sold during FY 2015/2016
| Type of Water testing kits | Number of Units Sold |
|---|---|
| Water test Kit Reagents | 43 |
| pH Reagent | 66 |
| Iron Reagent 1 | 52 |
| Iron Reagent 2 | 48 |
| Iron Reagent 3 | 46 |
| Hardness Reagent 1 | 41 |
| Hardness Reagent 2 | 38 |
| Hardness Reagent 3 | 48 |
| Chloride Reagent 1 | 22 |
| Chloride Reagent 2 | 26 |
| Ammonia Reagent 1 | 69 |
| Ammonia Reagent 2 | 74 |
| Nitrate Reagent 1 | 35 |
| Nitrate Reagent 2 | 35 |
| Phosphate Reagent 1 | 26 |
| Phosphate Reagent 2 | 24 |
| Calcium Hardness Reagent | 15 |
