Monthly water quality monitoring by local communities around Vembanad Lake, India

This is a map of locations where the water quality of Vembanad lake is monitored by local communities once in a month, with the support of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). The attached data contains status of 25 water quality parameters, sampled once in a month.

Vembanad wetland, which is the largest wetland system on the west-coast of India, is facing a grave environmental threat due to the pollution from various human activities. Industrial and agro-chemical residues, municipal sewage, domestic wastes, effluents from motor boats, lake tourism and coir retting to open water bodies are the major sources of pollution. ATREE, a conservation organization, through its participatory water watch program known as Jaladarpanam, has been training and supporting local communities that depend on Vembanad lake for their livelihoods, to monitor regularly the water qualtiy of the lake.
The communities sample and analyse the water quality at fixed Basin Stations once in a month. This participatory monitoring is expected to create public awareness on pollution problems, play a major role in monitoring the health of Vembanad Lake and help identify and resolve pollution issues. The prgram intends to provide baseline information on (1) quality of surface waters; (2) temporal changes of surface water quality conditions;(3) areas where water quality conditions are insufficient to support livelihood and domestic activities;(4) areas where the water quality conditions do not support aquatic life.

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