Why water quality monitoring?

Water is essential for human existence.  The quality of water we drink is being affected by different kinds of pollutants – effluents from industry, seepage from sewers, effluents with pesticides and fertilisers, etc.  Every year thousand of people fall prey to waterborne diseases resulting in a great deal of human suffering and loss of productivity.

Sometimes the natural source of water itself may not be fit to drink

So how can we be sure that the water we drink is safe?

Quality testing equipment is usually large, stationary and highly sophisticated, calling for sophisticated, calling for qualified personnel and huge sums of money.  Moreover, such equipment is not accessible to rural communities, NGOs and other peoples organisations.

What is the Jal TARA?

To help people monitor water quality and take action, we have introduced a simple-to-use, protable kit.  The Jal TARA can be used by anybody who has been educated upto class eight, to test water from any source – river, pond, tap, well, etc. Preliminary physico-chemical tests can be performed to show whether the water is fit for drinking. The kit is light (less that 5 kg) and comes in a sturdy elegant case that can be carried anywhere for conducting tests.  It has enough reagents to perform the tests 100 times, which means that water quality at different times of the year can be monitored.

What can the Jal TARA do?

This little kit can test 14 parameters – pH, temperature, turbidity, chlorides, fluorides, dissolved oxygen, nitrates, phosphates, residual chlorine, ammonia, iron, hardness, coliform bacteria and benthic diversity.

A unique feature of this kit is that the coliform bacteria test can be performed easily without an incubator.  The benthic diversity test is another unusual feature: it allows you to gauge the fitness of a waterbody for acquatic life on the basis of the diversity of benthic organisms in the water body.  The assumption is that a polluted water body would have very low diversity of benthic organisms.

Is the Jal TARA safe to use?

Absolutely! To encourage school children to take an active role in water quality monitoring, we have tried to use only plasticware instead of conventional glassware.  The reagents used are safe too, with minimum use of concentrated acid.  Pipettes have been replaced with syringes for measurement of liquids; so there is no fear that you may inadvertantly swallow reagent.  The kit comes with leak-proof break-free bottles which can be re-used several times.  And most importantly, the kit comes with a step by step instruction manual which gives lucid description of the tests, instructions to prepare the reagents and the significance of the parameters being tested.  Adequate safety instructions are provided in the manual for the safe handling of the kit.  The best way to use the kit in schools is under the supervision of a teacher and we recommend that the tests be explained to and performed by only children over 13 years of age.

Who can use the Jal TARA?

The Jal TARA is meant for anyone who is concerned by the quality he/she uses and is ready to initiate community action.  The kit comes with a complete set of reagents and when necessary, they can be replaced at any school/ college laboratory using the instructions manual. Queries and doubts during use of the kit will be willingly answered by our scientists, including a free demonstration of its use.

Where can you get the Jal TARA?

The Jal TARA is available at Development Alternatives, New Delhi for Rs. 2000 (excluding packaging and psotage).

Dr. K. Vijaya Lakshmi works in the Environment Systems Branch of Development Alternatives.