Armed with an app, a group of researchers are counting and classifying wells in the flood-ravaged areas of Paravur and Aluva to evolve strategies for providing safe drinking water.
The Well Mapping Mission, as it has been christened, aims to classify wells in the area based on water quality and pollution levels to chalk out programmes for making well water potable.
Scarcity of drinking water was the biggest and immediate challenge that the residents of flood-hit areas faced in the post-catastrophe days.
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Most wells in the affected areas were polluted by leakage from septic tanks and waste dumps. Now, the pollution level needs to be assessed and water treatment proposals finalised.
Wells with high turbidity and faecal contamination will be ranked as worst-hit, said Anas Abdulaziz, a senior scientist at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), who coordinates the research and analysis part of the mission.
The proximity of wells to septic tanks and factors like submergence during flood, cleanliness of the surrounding environment and water quality parameters, including turbidity, are being assessed. Over 300 wells in Varappuzha, Chendamangalam, Chittattukara, Alangad, and Moothakunnam were covered under the survey by five teams of volunteers from NIO, Centre for Marine Living Resource and Ecology, Central Marine Research Institute, Kerala University for Fisheries and Ocean Studies, and Cochin University of Science and Technology.
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Analysis
Researchers of NIO and CMFRI will carry out chemical and microbiological analysis of water samples, said. T. Pankajakshan, scientist in-charge, NIO.
Dr. Praveen G. Pai, who is involved in the mission, said chlorination would not clean up all wells, as some need alum treatment and other methods.
The mission attempts to categorise wells based on water quality and suggest remedial measures, he added.
National Health Mission district coordinator Dr. Mathews Numpeli said people had started using water drawn from some wells in elevated areas.
However, there were a few others with turbid and unusable water. One needs to wait for at least a week for turbidity to settle. If not settled, water treatment measures will have to be initiated, he added.
Use of chloroscope
Meanwhile, Accredited Social Health Activists and other volunteers have started using chloroscope, easy to use chlorine testing kits, to assess the level of residual chlorine in drinking water including well water.
One kit can be used to test as many as 100 wells. The level of residual chlorine can be quickly understood using the colour scale provided with the kit. Chloroscope was widely used after the Chennai floods, said Dr. Numpeli.