Mr. Meghraj Garad will present his APS as per the details below:
 

Date: 27th February 2026

Time: 1730 - 1830 hrs.

Venue: C-TARA Conference Room No.1

Topic: Development of a Rapid Water Quality Assessment Tool for River Basin

Guide: Prof. Bakul Rao

RPC Members: Prof. Parmeshwar Udmale, Prof. Pradip Kalbar, and Prof. Hemendra Arya

Abstract:

With the increasing pollution of surface water bodies and the need for continuous monitoring of water quality to protect water resources, this study aims to develop a water quality monitoring system for practitioners, such as regulating bodies like pollution control boards in India. The first three APS have shown progress against the objectives, such as the development of a drone-based water sampling mechanism for surface water bodies and the existing policy setup for India regarding the water quality monitoring of water resources. The current APS presents the details about the final rectification made in the drone-based water sampling mechanism, the results of the laboratory and field testing conducted at the IIT Gymkhana ground and Powai lake. This report also presents the policy frameworks available for selected countries and a comparison with India's Policy setup with respect to the quality status of water bodies as per SDG 6. Apart from this, the report also presents the various pesticide usage in the Warana basin and a tentative estimation of their usage based on the crop area and usage mentioned by farmers during surveys. Further to this, the report gives a brief scenario for the impacts of pesticides on water quality and its testing methods, with limitations of having levels below the detection limit by using normal analytical instruments. The report provides a conceptual model for the development of a passive sampler for pesticide concentration and testing of selective parameters.

Keywords: Rapid Water Quality Monitoring, River water quality, Water Quality Monitoring, River Basin, Drone sampling