As per the eleventh five-year plan document of India (2007-12), there are about 2.17 lakh regions in the country with more than half affected with excess iron, followed by fluoride, salinity, nitrate and arsenic. Further, approximately, 10 million cases of diarrhea, more than 7.2 lakh typhoid cases and 1.5 lakh viral hepatitis cases occur every year a majority of which are contributed by unclean water supply and poor sanitation.
Early detection of chemical contamination in drinking water resources may save thousands of lives. Most of the detection methods for water contamination are confined to laboratory due to its time consuming measurement procedure and the use of bulky instruments such as spectrophotometer in colorimetric tests. Again most of the low cost paper strip based detection method only gives the indication of the presences of the contaminant but it is unable to quantify its exact amount.
The rural and remote locations of our region are not connected directly to proper water quality monitoring facility. People from these regions are at high risk of serious health hazards due to unavailability of local laboratory support to detect chemical contamination such as fluoride contamination in their drinking water sources. Water samples from these regions are usually sent to the central water quality monitoring laboratory and the process of estimating fluoride concentration is an in-efficient and time consuming process. To initiate any removal program one has to know the chemical contaminant present in the water sources in its exact amount. Even if the proper laboratory facility is available; it needs necessary expertise.
Hi all, I am a research scholar from Applied Photonics and nano-photonics lab, Department of Physics, Tezpur University; Assam https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Iftak_Hussain2?ev=hdr_xprf&_sg=k7banFph4kvNMiBFmHKxxUpl3YFzVya35vCimAnlwsAFve4IytfjGXl-w7iAF26e . Our research group has working on developing smartphone based sensing tools which may be beneficial to the society. I am from Assam and people from many parts of this state such as Karbi-anglong, Nagaon, Majuli etc has suffering from serious health issues occurring from elevated amount of fluoride and arsenic in drinking water resources.
Tentative cost involvement in developing the initial five sensors: | |||||
S. No. | Item | Quantity | Individual Price (Rupees) | Supplier and parts no. | Total amount (Rupees) |
1 | Smartphone having Light sensor | 5 | Hope a phone will be available anywhere | ||
2 | 568 nm Light emitting diode | 5 | 17.79 | R.S. Components; stock no. 860-9692 | 88.95 |
3 | Android application | Free of cost | |||
3 | USB-OTG cable | 5 | 55 | Ebay India | 275 |
4 | Plano-convex lens(Focal length 11 mm) | 10 | 1700 | Edmund optics; Stock no. 32-471 | 17000 |
5 | Ground glass diffuser | 5 | 3060 | Holmarc optics; Stock no. HO-DF-50S-32 | 15300 |
6 | Fabrication of the sensor/materials | 5 | CNC machining or 3D printing | 10000 | |
7 | Reagents/Chemicals/Glassware | for colorimetric detection of Fluoride | 15000 | ||
Total estimate | 57663.95 |
I have developed the phone application which I am going to make free
I want to develop the same for Arsenic and Iron but the problem is that we don't have much funding. I have done these much by my research fellowship. To develop this as a low-cost kit I seriously need help. Please help me out.
Your suggestions may help me significantly in improving the cause: