Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has partnered with Tel Aviv University, Israel, and KMCH-Research Foundation (KMCH-RF), Coimbatore, to offer a water quality course aimed at creating water-literate citizens.

This four-month-long course, offered in hybrid mode, is ideal for final-year science and engineering students, and anyone with a technical background interested in water quality.

Titled ‘A Hybrid Course on Water Quality: An Approach to People’s Water Data’, the course will deliver a comprehensive understanding of important aspects of water quality, analysis of key parameters, and their impact on human health. It will also establish a database of water quality from diverse sources such as households, rivers, borewells, groundwater, and pipeline networks.

The course has been designed based on a pilot study done during the last summer in different places across Tamil Nadu (such as Chennai and Erode, among others) involving college students. The data from this endeavour was collated to create online data on water quality with spatial coordinates, and inputs from surveys.

The course organizers are working towards building a water map of India and the world by students, who will contribute to building water literacy. After a detailed introduction to fundamental aspects of water quality, students will conduct practical tests including surveys. They will receive a certificate upon completion which may be credited as part their degree program via their institution.

Registrations for this course, which started on will close on July 20. Prof. Thalappil Pradeep, Padma Shri Awardee and Institute Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Madras, said, “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations is possible only when people understand the reasons that limit their realisation. Water quality is one such aspect. This course will build reliable water quality data by people which will also make them water-literate. The course is part of an initiative to train water professionals for the world.”

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