With the population explosion every year the competition for a clean, considerable supply of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and sustaining life have become intense. But now we have one stop solution to detect this bacterial contamination, Dr Soumya Haldar, Senior Scientist, CSIR-CSMCRI recently developed a low-priced bacterial detection kit for testing different contaminated water sources which has a capability to save millions of lives.
Dr. Soumya Haldar born in West Bengal holds two Ph.D degrees, first from Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi and for second Ph.D moved to Osaka Prefecture University, Japan. In 2008, Dr. Haldar joined CSIR-CSMCRI. Keeping the water deterioration level in mind, he along with his student discovered a process through which bacterias present in water can be deciphered.
Water water everywhere
Nor a drop to drink
70 % of the world is covered by water
Only 2.5% of it is fresh. The rest is saline and ocean-based.
With much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields, just 1% of our freshwater is easily accessible.
Only 0.007% of the planet’s water is available to fuel and feed its 6.8 billion people.
RENOVATION FOR CONTAMINATION
Have you ever been skeptical enough to test those RO water purifiers at your home that claim 99.9999% bacteria elimination? It is a simple membrane based kit which can detect bacterial contamination in any types of water.
This is the first ever bacterial detection kit ever made, before this there were ways to detect the bacteria but it was quite complex. It’s very easy to handle as it doesn’t require skilled personnel and is suitable for housewives/ domestic people/ workers in aquaculture pond, swimming pools/ village people etc.
“It is very unique with respect to its simple using principle, in situ operation, fast result and price. Classical microbiology method for bacterial detection require sophisticated laboratory, skilled manpower, 2-3 days time for bacterial growth and high price. Further in classical method sample should be carried to the laboratory in cold condition which required more time and always there is a chance of contamination.” – Dr. Soumya Haldar
HOW TO HANDLE!
Bacterial detection kit contains a membrane-based kit (strip) that incorporates specific dye and a carbon source for the identification of live bacteria in contaminated water. Membrane has a special affinity for bacteria present in the water sources nearby. Hence when any water sources that needs to be tested is poured into a small tube (1 ml) that have this membrane, then the bacteria present in the water attracts to the membrane.
Later the bacteria begin utilizing the carbon source in the membrane that results in pH change. This change in the pH, changes the color of dye and turns the water colour to pink from colour less. This colour change can be seen visually in few hours with no instrumental assistance, laboratory or skilled manpower. The results obtained through the membrane strip can also tell the amount of live bacteria present in the water samples. The kit has the capacity to successfully work in various environmental water sources which may enhance its acceptability by different end users such as in aquaculture industry, swimming pool and domestic/municipal water users etc.
“Main challenge was how to make it robust, i.e. applicable for any type of water. Next was how to speed up the color change process and make it more unique.” – Dr. Soumya Haldar
SPARKING THE INNOVATION
“Water quality evaluation with respect to bacterial contamination is a major challenge in India. All the existing methods depend on classical microbiology which is complicated and capital intensive. Therefore I was having intension to develop simple kit from two years ago. One of my Ph.D. students Ms. Sweta Binod Kumar has developed this kit as part of her Ph.D. work under my mentorship.” – Dr. Soumya Haldar
INSTITUTE BEHIND YOUR CLEAN WATER
Headquartered at Bhavnagar, Gujarat, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute is a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India.
“Our institute works in the area of water desalination, Analytical and environmental sciences, salt, inorganic chemicals, Biotechnology and phycology, Natural products and green chemistry. We have total 76 scientists working in various areas.” – Dr. Soumya Haldar
RECOGNITION ACROSS THE NATION
Biotech product, process development and commercialization award by S & T Minister, Dr. Harshvardhan.
TOP-80 TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS IN INDIA (SKOCH ORDER-OF-MERIT) by SKOCH group
HOW TO AVAIL THE KIT?
“As we are Government institute, the kit comes in very reasonable price. We have already commercialized this technology to a Chennai based aquaculture company. CSIR-CSMCRI also supplies the kit on payment basis for its market evaluation from our BDIM division (skannan@csmcri.res.in).– Dr. Soumya Haldar
along with his student, Sweta Binod Kumar, who has registered for her Ph.D.