The Department of Water and Sanitation on Thursday launched the new Magalies Water Services Laboratory in the North West.

The laboratory will provide a range of services from water quality testing and sampling to research and other services rendered in a scientific laboratory.

Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister Pamela Tshwete, who launched the state-of-the-art laboratory located in Brits, noted that the work of the laboratory will impact most positively on public health in the locality.

“This will be through the monitoring of drinking water supplies, process monitoring of water and wastewater works and environmental monitoring of rivers and dams,” the Deputy Minister said.

She said the laboratory comes at a time when the country is faced with challenges of not just water availability but of good quality water.

“As we know, the country has been affected by drought, and this region was not spared from it…

“The lack of rainfall affected the work of the Water Board as less good quality water was abstracted from the sources. The laboratory that we see here today is therefore an intervention that was necessary in the region,” the Deputy Minister said.

She said the facility will ensure that there is even closer co-operation with its clients, municipalities, mines, industries and agriculture.