CSIO develops mobile app for testing water quality

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 29

You can now use your smart phone to determine whether water served to you is suitable for drinking or not. The Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) here has developed a mobile android-based app that lets you instantly determine the quality of water in your home or any other place that you visit. And it can be done at a cost of less than a rupee.

Scientists at the CSIO said: “A drop of water or any other beverage for that matter can be placed on a small strip of easily available litmus paper. The colour of the paper will change according to the level of acidity or alkalinity (pH) of the drop. The user will need to click a photograph of the paper strip and the results will be generated through the app”.

“Systems available in the market to test the pH of solutions cost up to Rs 50,000. The mobile app is free of cost and the paper strip costs less than a rupee. The potential use of the application is large ranging from low-cost educational and demonstrative alternative to fast and easy way of getting to know the freshness of foods and beverages,” Prof RK Sinha, team leader, said.

Solutions with pH value less than 7 are considered acidic and more than 7 are alkaline. Soft drinks in general are acidic, while water, with pH of 7, is neutral. Very acidic and alkaline liquids are not good for the human body.

The app has been developed by Saurav Kumar, Sankho Turjo Sarkar, Ritesh Kumar, Anupma Sharma, Monika Singla and Amol P Bhondekar of the Agrionics Division. The development of this app was taken up by the Audyogik Sahyog Kendra of the CSIO for Industries and educational institutions. The app will soon be available from the Google Play Store as a freeware.