People across the state will soon be able to get information about the quality of groundwater in their respective areas at their fingertips. The Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC) has almost completed analysing over three lakh water samples collected from across the state under the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission and is in the process of making it accessible to everyone on the internet through ISRO.
KSRSAC director D K Prabhuraj said, “The water samples were collected and tested by the Panchayath Raj Engineering Department over the past three years during monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons. We have analysed it and, based on the areas they were collected from, we have classified the areas in which water is potable and not potable due to contamination.”
The report is almost complete and is likely to be submitted to ISRO soon, he said. ISRO will host the report on Bhuvana, its portal, he said.
“As the water quality in almost every village in 176 taluks and 30 districts of the state is being updated, people can easily know if groundwater in their area is potable,” Prabhuraj said.
Moreover, this will help government agencies plan the supply of clean drinking water to areas where the groundwater is contaminated from nearby potable water sources. The water samples were tested for pH levels, hardness, TDS, fluoride, iron and nitrate content, he added.
The project has been funded by the Union Rural Development Ministry through ISRO. KSRSAC has received `32 lakh for analysing the water samples and digitising the data. The agency is expecting ISRO to release more funds very soon.