Chennai, July 8: The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) has partnered with Tel Aviv University, Israel and KMCH-Research Foundation (KMCH-RF), Coimbatore, to offer a water quality course aimed at creating water-literate citizens, an official statement said Monday.

According to IITM, the four-month course, in hybrid mode through the NPTEL online platform, is for final-year science and engineering students, and anyone with a technical background interested in water quality.

The course organisers are working towards building a water map of India and the world by students, who will contribute to building water literacy.

After a detailed introduction to fundamental aspects of water quality, students will conduct practical tests including surveys. They will receive a certificate upon completion which may be credited as part of their degree programme via their institution, IITM said.

Welcoming everyone interested in preserving water quality to take this course, Prof. Thalappil Pradeep, of the Department of Chemistry, IITM, said: "Achieving Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations is possible only when people understand the reasons that limit their realisation. Water quality is one such aspect. This course will build reliable water quality data by people which will also make them water-literate. The course is part of an initiative to train water professionals for the world."

The course has been designed based on a pilot study done during the last summer in different places across Tamil Nadu (such as Chennai and Erode, among others) involving college students. The data from this endeavour was collated to create online data on water quality with spatial coordinates, and inputs from surveys.

(IANS)

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