Testing water samples made easier for citizens

Bengaluru: Working with research-based organizations like Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment (ATREE) and BIOME, Foundation for Environmental Monitoring (FFEM) has developed water and soil testing kits. 

The tests use the colourimetric method which determines the concentration of a chemical element in a solution. It uses a smartphone camera flash to detect the contaminant in the water after which the colour is compared with a calibration table. 

Mr Rajkumar Samuel, co-founder, FFEM says the kits are developed keeping citizens in mind who have to go to labs at a distance of even 100 kilometres to get water tests done. The water testing kits are developed to test Fluoride, Residual Chlorine, pH, Nitrate, Phosphate and chromium. 

"The parameters were developed in consultation with ATREE and BIOME. It has been four years since we have developed the kit and at present, we are giving it to lake groups and those who are in the business of selling water," Mr Samuel adds.

He says that though field testing kits are available in the market, the water kits developed by FFEM are feasibly accurate. Apart from water testing kits, FFEM has also come up with soil testing kits which test for Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK). FFEM in consultation with ATREE and BIOME will also come up with river monitoring kits in future.