IIT Guwahati, Bombay To Develop Sensors To Evaluate Indian Water Quality With European Partners

GUWAHATI: In partnership with European universities, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Guwahati and Bombay are developing low-cost technology to assess the quality of India's drinkable and other water supplies. The LOTUS Indo-European project, a joint effort of the European Commission and the Department of Science and Technology, aims to address problems with the quality of water delivered to families in India and worldwide.

The LOTUS project's innovative water quality sensor, which draws on earlier work from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France, is a key component. In conjunction with IIT Guwahati and the SME EGM, Sophia Antipolis, France, the sensor was further developed during the project by scientists at Universite Gustave Eiffel.

The LOTUS sensor is anticipated to meet the needs of the Indian water industries, according to S Senthilmurugan, Chairperson, Technology Incubation Centre, IIT Guwahati. The requirements for the LOTUS water quality sensor were established after information was gathered from owners, operators, end users, and research and development experts in India.

In accordance with the goals of the Jal Jeevan Mission of the Indian government and its Make-in-India programme, the successful commercialization of the LOTUS water quality sensor would offer the inhabitants of India an affordable water quality monitoring and safe drinking water supply solution. The IIT Guwahati LOTUS team was able to continue the collection of groundwater samples and sensor development work with little interruption even during COVID hours, he said.

IIT Guwahati is working with Linxens India Private Limited and Hydroscope Technology Private Limited, a start-up company, to commercially produce the sensor for the Indian market. Technology licencing between the two businesses and the LOTUS team (IIT Guwahati and Universite Gustave Eiffel) is currently underway.

The IIT Guwahati-created LOTUS sensor is intended to handle sensing requirements and quality control issues in a variety of use-case scenarios, including those involving safe drinking water, agricultural water, and wastewater.

According to Ravindra Gudi, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Bombay, "the overall framework including the LOTUS sensor, and the quality monitoring and control algorithms developed at IIT Bombay, would be developed and deployed on platforms to provide improved solutions to address major water quality control issues across the country."

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