Do not expect much

Do not expect much from a wrongly collected water sample?.
thrivikramji@gmail.com

This reaction is to correct some wrongs we saw this late afternoon in the TV screen, about a ministerial inauguration of water sampling for laboratory analysis and covering all the rivers of Kerala.

We, the public saw Mr. PJ Joseph, minister for PWD, inaugurating water sample collection (happened in the shores of Karamana Ar.) as part of a project to monitor water quality of the Kerala Rivers. The program inaugurated deals with the physical, chemical and microbiological monitoring of samples of water from all the 41 west flowing and 3 east flowing rivers. My contentious point is regarding the 1st step in the program, i.e., the collection of water sample. The basic assumption of sampling process is that the sample shall be representative of the whole.

On the contrary the visuals showed, the minister bending down and dipping a near white polyester cup from the river shore, to gather enough water to be a sample of the whole at the sampled transect in the Karamana Ar.

As a student of science - river science if you wish to call me that way- I had umpteen number of opportunities for collection of water samples from streams/rivers of Kerala, strictly following the principles of sampling of river water.

The name of the game is collecting a sample at a point where the water is well mixed, so that the sample collected will be a sample by definition. If the flow depth is larger three samples –one from the surface, one from the near bottom and third from a depth in between the first two- are collected. The storage and transport of the samples are yet another story. The ambient temp of the water in the site is to be maintained the sample container during transport and storage.

The samples of water collected from the river shore are undoubtedly far from satisfactory for water quality monitoring. Unfortunately all these basic norms of water sample collection are violated in the inauguration of the project, giving the wrong idea to the informed public regarding the collection of water samples from rivers. Unfortunately, the CWRDM (Kozhikod) also follows a procedure in water sampling, very much similar to what we saw in the TV screen this evening.

I am sure that the minister is not to be blamed for the erroneous procedure. Instead, the blame squarely rests on the scientists/technologists who advised the minister about water sampling from streams/rivers. In fact, tomorrow onwards several water samples will be collected without any worth and so I suggest if your “Hindu” can correct the wrong please do not hesitate.
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Science wins always

Science wins always

Sasthram jayikkunnu; manushyan tholkunnu enna slogan came to my mind when I saw a report in today,’ on the sand mining at Aruvikkara recently launched by the government as a solution for a host of problems, viz. raising the capacity of the reservoir, providing jobs under the JNREGS and to supply sand to the sand starved construction sector through the “Kalavara” stores. Indeed a noble idea. What morer one would expect from a democratic government?

Only trouble was that it went against the basics of geological sciences viz., the chemical weathering which is governed by the second law of thermodynamics. The objections raised were not addressed by the government anyway. The govt instead went along with its own instinct ignoring the science of sand formation in nature. Surprisingly to day in a camera straight Mr. Premachandran quoted the 30:70 rule of quartz to other minerals in the rocks, pretending to be following the science of sand. I would correct the number by 27:73 instead. The govt. by being what it is, can always ignore and blackout the aspects of science; whether it is Athirapally or Sand mining from reservoirs.

The campaign was launched as a solution to remedy at least partly the scarcity of construction sand locally, to enlarge the reservoir capacity and to provide jobs to the local BPL citizenry under the JNREGS .In fact a similar program was launched couple of days ago by Mr. Premachandran the water resources minister in Chulliar in Plakkad Dist.

From the day one of this new campaign of recovering sand from the reservoirs in Kerala, based on science, I was warning that there is no “gold mine” of sand hidden under the placid wares of the reservoirs of Kerala.

It is much more so in respect of the hydel reservoirs as the rate of catchment erosion is far less than that of the reservoirs built down below say at elevations in the range of 80- 160 m. ( above msl),. for irrigation purposes. I am sure that some one will soon sing the requiem for the reservoir sand mining in Kerala.

thrivikramji@gmail.com