Objectives:

1. To undertake field trial of the cost effective water purification technology developed by ERL in regions affected by iron, lead, & other heavy metal contamination.
2. To reduce the water borne diseases among the rural conglomerates exposed higher concentration of heavy metals by this technology and obtain the users feedback on the technology acceptability.
3. To provide wholesome feedback to CAPART on the rural water purification technology for mass replication in rural areas of the country.

Cost effective water purification technology ideally suited for the rural areas of the country remotely inhabited and devoid of power or easy access of the underground water table, making use of the rain harvested contaminated water, especially with iron, lead, and other heavy metals, has been manifested in this technology trial cum demonstration exercise to provide the requisite feedback to CAPART under this project. In continuation of the earlier exercise carried out on 1000 rural conglomerates in the rural areas of Lucknow, where the suitability of the prototype technological innovations provided satisfactory field results in remediation of microbial and physio-chemical contaminants of water, the feed back could not be obtained on iron, lead, and other heavy metal contaminations for which technological clam has been filled in this Indian Patent. Therefore, this project is aimed to supplement the field trial vis-a-vis feedback of the developed water purification technology to obtain the results on its capacity to remove iron, lead & other heavy metal contaminants along with host of other impurities of water from the rural areas affected by underground iron and lead etc. Under the project, 1500 such units are required to be installed in the rural families drawn from the areas of Gowhati/Agartalla, Cuttack/Bhuvneshwar, which are known for iron & lead contamination in water and obtain the water quality monitoring profile from the prospective users vis-a-vis training them for its effective use to procure safe and potable water devoid of iron, lead etc. inter alia provide the requisite feed back to the nodal agency (CAPART) for its large scale replication and application in the rural areas of the country facing the crisis of potable water.

Implementation Details:

The project has been implemented in two phases. The first phase involved prototype replication exercise, water quality monitoring and the second phase was devoted for the installation of the water purifying units in 1500 prospective rural technology users from Gowhati/Agartalla, Bhuvneshwar/Cuttack followed by water quality assessment of filtered water from the respective users to ascertain the degree of utility, field adaptability, and capacity demonstration of the developed technology vis-a-vis awareness generation in the rural conglomerates for its optimum use & efficiency.

The scientists of Environmental Research Laboratory, Lucknow, which is the R&D wing of the society have successfully undertaken the replication exercise of 1500 nos. of such water filter units in the first leg of the project implementation. Side by side, we have also sought assistance from the District Authorities of Gowhati, Agartalla, Bhuvneshwar and Cuttack to elicit support in identifying the targeted rural conglomerates as technology trial partners/facilitators from the view point of involving the local administration and adhering the necessary protocol. As such, the project staff was assigned to concentrate on the drawing list of prospective beneficiaries from the respective rural zones on the basis of socio-economic considerations only, to ensure the participation of all communities caste & religion to provide the composite culture of the rural society. A detailed questionnaire developed earlier for this purpose was suitably modified to obtain the relevant field information needed for reliable assessment of the overall situation of the rural technology participants and the genuine assessment accomplished in the health sector following the use of filtered water devoid of iron etc. The critical factors that were focused under the project to elicit information from the prospective technology trail users were pertaining to the following:
 

1. Occupational and annual income of the villagers.
2. Maximum educational status of the rural family.
3. Total family members of the villager.
4. Number of males and females in the family.
5. Existing source of drinking water supply.
6. Daily consumption pattern of drinking water & its colour.
7. Availability of toilets, if any in the family.
8. Details of school going children, if any.
9. Details of illness (gastro etc.) during the past six months.
10. Details of babies born in the family over the years.
11. Details of pregnant women in the family, if any.
12. Details of abortions, if any, encountered in family.
13. Tracing information on genetic disorders, if any.
14. Arrangement of the technology maintenance etc.
15. Commitment from the women of the family to use only filter water during the technological trail.
16. Commitment from the head of the family to provide water for monitoring.

Five hundred families from the villages adjoining Gowhati were incorporated as prospective users of the water purification technology. The rural conglomerates were belonging to different caste, religion, and age groups but all were stated to be economically weak. Their consent was obtained before the installation of the gadget in their rural household as a prelude to embark on the demonstration cum field  trial exercise. 

Concerted efforts were made to take the water sample from the respective villagers as a benchmark representative data of the pre-filter analysis of parameters to offer the reasonable comparison between the pre and post installation data of the water filter. The various parameters included for critical assessment were as follows:

1. Iron & Lead.
2. Sulphate.
3. Phosphates.
4. Chlorides.
5. Dissolved suspended impurities.
6. Alkalinity/Acidity
7. Nitrate/Nitrite.
8. Microbial counts.
9. Colour/pH

The exercise to install the remaining prototype water filtration units in other areas is already under focus and the job is being accomplished as pointed out in the previous sections to complete the project within the stipulated time frame. The water quality monitoring exercise inter alia training cum awareness generation exercise are being carried out simultaneously due to transportation & travel constraints. The final feed back of the composite report shall be submitted to the CAPART at the end of the project.