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Don't drink that glass of water! T N Anuradha H ow safe is your water? Water borne diseases make a come back. Shortage of water is forecasted this summer. Is the government taking adequate steps to supply you potable water?These are some common headlines that glare out from our daily newspapers. Modern India is facing a severe drinking water crisis in terms of both quantity and quality. Nearly 44 million people are affected by water quality problems either due to pollution, or the prevalence of fluoride, arsenic or iron deposits or due to ingress of saline water. There is an urgent need for understanding the status of the drinking water quality and to ensure its management and sustainable use. Water Quality Monitoring The Water Quality Monitoring Programme introduced by CLEAN provides a systematic and continuous approach to monitoring the quality of water in an area. This process helps to develop a database on the status of water quality and also observe the trends over a period of time and thus identify the potential problems and threats to our water resources. CLEAN India provides a forum for children from across the country to join forces to monitor the quality of water in their respective areas. A key feature of the CLEAN approach to water quality monitoring is that groups of students analyze the drinking water quality, investigate the local environmental conditions and instigate communities to take actions to solve the problems. Before initiating a water quality monitoring programme, it is essential to scrutinise the real needs of water quality information. Based on this, different water sources are identified. Of interest are drinking water sources in residential areas, industrial areas, near waste dumps, public places, major drains, etc. The emphasis should be on studying the influence of different activities on the quality of water. In the CLEAN Delhi programme, 190 water monitoring stations are monitored seasonally by school-going children. Sample collection is accompanied with recording the details of the environmental condition around the water source. Students uncover problems An interesting and alarming observation made in the course of water monitoring in Delhi is that the areas located in the suburbs do not receive piped water and therefore the people depend on ground water for all their needs. In the course of monitoring the water in these places, it was found that many samples of this ground water revealed levels of fluoride exceeding the permissible limit. This can lead to problems of fluorosis, especially in the poorer sections of society whose diet intakes are low.Similarly, extensive checking for contamination of water in monsoon indicated the presence of coliform bacteria in both piped water and ground water. Whenever water samples show certain parameters exceeding the permissible limit by a very large quantity, testing of these samples is done in the laboratory. For this, the NGOs who coordinate the programme have to collaborate with local government laboratories or pollution control boards so that the problem is identified immediately and remedial measures are taken. Taking Action The challenge in the programme is how best to interpret the data and take action to ensure that the quality of the drinking water is maintained. For this, it is important that the data on water quality for every area is projected in such a simple fashion that it is easily understood by the general public. The aim of the programme is that all the data generated is projected on the map of the respective town / city. A representative water quality map of Delhi on the next page shows the data projection. These maps will be on display at different public places so that maximum people have access to this information. The solution to attain good quality water will vary as per the persisting problem. It may be as simple as maintaining the sanitation and hygiene around the water source or using chlorine tablets or adopting deflouridation techniques or, in the worst scenario, looking for an alternative source of water. Finally, what is important is to have the zeal to perform. The programme requires NGOs dedicated to this task who can mobilize schools and maintain the momentum of the programme. For children, it is a process of becoming responsible citizens. They become active investigators, develop useful skills, positive attitudes and most of all they set the stage for appropriate action to help improve the local environment. q
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