INTRODUCTION
My parents often try to nudge me out of Kolkata, the place I've called home for most of my life. Indifferent, as most inhabitants of this city are, I refuse to budge. Instead of using an understandable lack of economic opportunity rationale, I am often advised - your horoscope indicates you will achieve professional growth & success if you were to reside besides a sea. (As if the obese Hooghly river flowing into the not-so-distant Bay of Bengal wasn't enough!). In order to lend credence to their claim, they highlight the proximity between the moments of fulfilment I've experienced in my life and the presence of sea or ocean nearby. I have no option but to keep mum.
And since the cosmos works in mysterious ways, it also dawns on me that I've written extensively on Water & Water body-related workflows here on Mapmyops. Not that I didn't know about it already but it is still way more than I had anticipated-
My work on Water-related Topics (in chronological order)-
Detection and Temporal Analysis of Shipping Activity using Radar Remote Sensing
Monitoring Land Subsidence in Kolkata using DinSAR Interferometry
Mapping the extent of Flooding after Amphan Cyclone using Radar Satellite Imagery
Mapping Solutions for Insurance Sector - Assessing Risk to Property from Cyclonic Storms
Mapping the extent of Oil Spill in Mauritius using Radar Remote Sensing
Extracting Water Body Footprint from Optical and Radar Satellite Imagery
Mapping Sargassum Seaweed Invasion using Multispectral Satellite Imagery
Monitoring Snow Cover in Himachal Pradesh using Remote Sensing
Monitoring Drought Conditions at Indirasagar Reservoir using Multispectral Satellite Imagery
Estimating Actual Evotranspiration at Field-scale using Remote Sensing
Go immerse yourself - if the recent Titan submersible tragedy piques your interest, you may want to view the video demonstration within the Ocean Currents Mapping post (#10) to know about one of the several complications involved in deep-sea missions. Topics such as Evotranspiration and Ship Detection may inspire feelings of awe while Drought Monitoring, Sargassum Invasion and Chamoli Flash Floods would, on the other hand, help you be aware of the severity of the water system-related threats that we face today.
SECTION HYPERLINKS
In a departure from the routine, the written content in this post is minimal - you can jump straight into the video demonstrations hyperlinked below-
Workflows:
All these three workflows have been consolidated in this video-
VIDEO TIMESTAMPS
00:06 - Case Details
00:26 - W1: Trace Analysis on a Stream Network to map the spread of Water Pollution
00:29 - W1.1: Exploring & Setting up the Geodataset
07:00 - W1.2: Configuring a Trace Network of the Water Streams
10:55 - W1.3: 1st Scenario - Upstream Trace Analysis without Barrier - to determine extent of water body that has already been affected by pollution given no known point of origin
15:48 - W1.4: 2nd Scenario - Upstream Trace Analysis with Barrier - to determine extent of water body that has already been affected by pollution given a particular point of origin
17:40 - W1.5: 3rd Scenario - to determine extent of water body that can be affected by the pollution
19:17 - W2: Assessing Groundwater Vulnerable Zones using Suitability Modeling
19:20 - W2.1: Exploring & Setting up the Geodatasets
28:03 - W2.2: 1st Scenario - Suitability Modeling with Soil Drainage Conditions & Water Table Depth Datasets
37:00 - W2.3: 2nd Scenario - New Suitability Model combining Land Cover dataset with the previous model (Soil Drainage Conditions & Water Table Depth)
45:09 - W2.4: 3rd Scenario - Identifying Land Clusters for Conservation efforts from within High Risk Groundwater Contamination Zones
52:41 - W3: Novel, Nature-based Pollution Treatment in Open Water Bodies & at Wastewater Plants
52:44 - W3.1: Pollution in Water Bodies: Establishing the Context
59:15 - W3.2: Treating Water Pollution
01:15:54 - Video Summary Note
Since the central theme of this post revolves around Water Pollution, it would help you to know that I have covered aspects such as the sources, types & effects of Organic Pollution as well as the Water Quality parameters in the video on Water Treatment - it is our civic responsibility to be aware about how this precious resource is misused and how that impacts not only mankind but also a wide variety of flora & fauna on land and in marine ecosystems.
India, my country, is no stranger to Water Pollution (Figure 2). Exponential increase in population and rapid industrialization and urbanization coupled with poor waste management practises contribute significantly towards the increasing pollution in open water bodies such as ponds, lakes, drains, estuaries and rivers and these eventually find their way into the sea and ocean - wreaking havoc wherever it goes.
I've used Remote Sensing (Satellite Imagery Processing) to detect Water Pollution previously-
a) Sargassum Seaweed Invasion in the Atlantic ocean, which extends from the eastern coast of the Americas to the western coast of Africa, is the most read post on my website as of today. Its cause, among other things, is the nitrogen-rich runoffs from the increasingly deforested Amazonian forests
b) The devastating Oil Spill in Mauritius, caused by the bulk carrier MV Wakashio which ran aground on a coral reef in 2020, resulted in widespread destruction of oceanic and coastal habitat and brought economic gloom to the country which relies heavily on tourism
Besides Remote Sensing, GIS (Geographic Information System) technology also plays an important role in dealing with Water Pollution. The first two video workflows are devoted to this - a) to identify the spread of pollutant in a network of streams flowing into a reservoir, and b) deploying Suitability Modeler (an advanced spatial analytics tool which I've demonstrated previously) to identify land zones which are highly vulnerable to Groundwater contamination risk.
Credits: Water Risk tutorials published on Esri's Learn ArcGIS platform - I've used ArcGIS Pro software in the demonstration.
The cornerstone of this post is the third video workflow on Polluted Water Treatment where I highlight the features and benefits of a novel, nature-based remedy invented and patented by an Indian scientist which is effective, scalable & cost-effective at treating Organic Pollution in Open Water Bodies and improving the performance of Sewage and Wastewater Treatment plants. While developing this portion of the post, it dawned on me that while necessary for the human body, nutrient inflows actually pollute water bodies! 😢
PERFORMING TRACE ANALYSIS ON A STREAM NETWORK USING GIS TO DETERMINE THE SPREAD OF A POLLUTANT
The situation: Contamination was observed at a particular water stream and was reported to you - a municipal representative. The area is infested with a network of streams and you have to quickly ascertain the locations, number and length of the streams that could have been contaminated already.
To aid you in your assessment, you are informed about the potential location(s) of the origin of contamination - for example, a factory that releases effluents into the water body upstream to the contamination observation spot. How will you factor this information and revise your analysis?
Not only would you have to treat the extent of water body that is already contaminated, but also have to take measures to prevent the spread of the pollutant downstream. Besides, time is of the essence - you and your team will take as much as thirty minutes to reach the water body. Where should you reach and how will you negate this adverse situation? Come explore the GIS-based analysis-
SUITABILITY MODELING USING GIS TO DETERMINE ZONES VULNERABLE TO GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION
The situation: You are tasked with safeguarding the economic prosperity of a district and the health of its residents by preventing contaminants to reach the Groundwater table. The pollutants have increased over time - increasing industrialization and urbanization are the driving factors.
The type of activity happening on the surface (farming, industrial etc.) influences the generation and type of contaminants. Moreover, parameters such as drainage conditions of the soil & distance to the groundwater table determine the probability of the contaminant being able seep in.
Given this information, how would you identify zones within the district that are most vulnerable to groundwater contamination? You'd need to assess the weightage of these three variables and factor it into the Suitability Modeler geoprocessing tool. Even within the high-risk zones identified, you will have to prioritize the clusters for protection & conservation. Ready for the challenge?
TREATING ORGANIC POLLUTION IN OPEN WATER BODIES AND AT SEWAGE / WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS
My firm, Intelloc Mapping Services, sells this patented, made-in-India Water Treatment solution. If you like what you see in the video demonstration below and are interested to rejuvenate a polluted lake near your residence, get rid of foul smell and disease emanating from an open drain, or enhance the performance of the wastewater treatment plant at your township or factory (with potential savings to add), I'll be happy to help - you may email the water body's location, photos, dimensions (length, breadth, depth), numbers of inlets and outlets + their respective flow rates, existing treatment used and water quality reports, if available, for me to suggest a plan of action as well as share a cost estimate of the treatment (won't be very high 😊).
As you will observe in the video, the treatment does not involve the addition of chemicals into the water body. It just restores the right conditions for the Aquatic Food Web to thrive through phycoremediation. Not only is the solution effective (treats pollutants only, leaves the 'good' bacteria alone), but also it is scalable (can treat large, open water bodies) and is cost-effective (a few paise per litre of water treated).
Have a look-
CONCLUSION
It was the Academy Award-winning animated comedy Rango (2011) where I was first introduced to the concept of Water Conflict. Significant wars are predicted to be fought between those seeking access and those exercising control over water, an eventuality that has surfaced already. While the quirky lizard with no name found his calling by becoming Rango - the Sheriff who fought for his friends in Dirt Town and restored their water supply, would we be able to safeguard the very same precious resource for the future generations on this planet?
ABOUT US
Intelloc Mapping Services, Kolkata | Mapmyops.com offers Mapping services that can be integrated with Operations Planning, Design and Audit workflows. These include but are not limited to Drone Services, Subsurface Mapping Services, Location Analytics & App Development, Supply Chain Services, Remote Sensing Services and Wastewater Treatment. The services can be rendered pan-India and will aid your organization to meet its stated objectives pertaining to Operational Excellence, Sustainability and Growth.
Broadly, the firm's area of expertise can be split into two categories - Geographic Mapping and Operations Mapping. The Infographic below highlights our capabilities-
Our Mapping for Operations-themed workflow demonstrations can be accessed from the firm's Website / YouTube Channel and an overview can be obtained from this brochure. Happy to address queries and respond to documented requirements. Custom Demonstration, Training & Trials are facilitated only on a paid-basis. Looking forward to being of service.
Regards,