“Environmental monitoring Programme on Water quality” aims to create database on water quality and to use the derived informations for practical application in the management of water resources and their effective utilization. Policies and programs must appropriately invest in getting safe potable water, awareness to limit the exposure of people to faecal pathogens and chemical contamination. Bacteriological contamination is one of the major water quality problems of the Kerala Rivers. The lower reaches of the rivers in Kerala face the water quality problems. The upstream part of the Rivers is having fair water quality, which means that they are occasionally threatened.
In the first phase of the project, three river basins viz. Kabbini, Periyar and Neyyar were monitored and the technical report was brought out in 2009. In the second phase of the study, the water quality status of Karamana, Meenachil and Kadalundy river basins were reported. It is extended with Pamba, Chalakkudy Bharatpuzha, Ancharakandy-Thalassery –Mahi river basins in 2010. The water quality status of Chaliyar, Kallai, Achencoil and Kuttiyadi River basins was discussed in fourth phase of the technical report. The fifth part of the report comprised details on the water quality status of Valapattanam, Kallada, Keecheri-Puzhakkal and Chandragiri River basins. The monitoring network has been presently being expanded to the river basins such as Kariangode,Vamanapuram, Moovattupuzha, Korapuzha and Peruvamba river basins. The sixth part of the report contains details on the water quality status of Kuppam, Karuvannur, Manimala, Kavvayi, Nileswar and Ramapuram River basins. The available secondary data on water quality is being used along with the primary data generated through systematic water quality monitoring methods adopted in the present work.
The project also focuses on developing suitable water quality and biological indices for different water domains which could be utilized to identify the problem affected areas and to suggest necessary management action plans.