Training on “Smart and affordable technologies to monitor the drinking water quality, accompanied by field exposure visit” (under JJM)

Date: March 15 - 16, 2022

A 2-day residential laboratory training on “Smart and affordable technologies to monitor the drinking water quality, accompanied by field exposure visit” was organized at Anil Agarwal Environmental Training Institute (AAETI) under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) by the Environment Monitoring laboratory Unit of Centre for Science and Environment from March 15 - 16, 2022. The training program was made for District Laboratory In charges. Around 17 participants attended the programme from the states of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Rajasthan Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

The objective of the training was to train the participants to monitor the drinking water quality at laboratory scale, provide in depth knowledge and insight of the concepts, activities and technologies to monitor the drinking water quality. The design of the training program was done to introduce to the participants smart and affordable technologies to monitor the drinking water. A field visit was planned to demonstrate the Field-Testing Kit (FTK).

On day 1, the topics covered were: Overview of JJM &involvement of community in water quality surveillance and monitoring. A campus tour at AAETI was carried out to give an understanding on the monitoring of the drinking water source in the campus, understand the protocol for sample collection, preservation, storage and onsite testing of the drinking water source which is groundwater. Introduction of analytical instrumentations/ advanced water testing instruments were also carried out through tour of CSE’s laboratory. The other sessions were around - Overview, Status and mitigation of water quality in India, Introduction and testing of microbiological parameters, Introduction and testing of physio-chemical parameters along with heavy metals, National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) process for accreditation of laboratories.

The second day of the training was organized for field visit to a village, Ishroda which lies in the Block Tijara of Alwar district in the state of Rajasthan. The field exposure was planned in a way so that the training participants get an exposure to understand the use of FTK.

The training concluded on the second day, with a question & answer session on laboratory practices and testing methodology on water quality testing and distribution of certificates to all the participants and getting their feedback.

The participants were very positive about the training and overall arrangements in the green campus of AAETI and provided good feedback. They expect more such trainings with longer duration in order to orient the laboratory officials to meet the objectives of JJM with respect to ensuring supply of clean water to every household.

The speakers of the training were from Ministry of Jal Shakti, World health organization-WHO and Centre for Science and Environment.