Foam: a child’s treasured element in a bubble bath or the main reason morning coffee tastes great. I always loved foam, but when it comes off a lake, it can be repelling. Growing up, my house was next to a beautiful lake. It was my favourite hangout spot with migratory birds coming from as far away as Siberia. However, one day I was deeply troubled to notice the lake’s surface was covered with foam. When I investigated the cause, I realized it was due to contaminants leaking into the lake from a nearby sewage pipe.

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I knew fixing the problem would require identifying the exact contaminants present in the water. Having found a significant factor in the lake’s decline, I started developing a hardware-software solution to detect water contamination. The solution involves mixing water with a bacterial indicator and then training a machine-learning algorithm to use the resulting colour patterns to quantify the presence of E Coli in the water. An application then reports the test results to the community and civic bodies responsible for maintaining the lake. Currently, the solution is being tested at a local sewage treatment plant to check for reliability and accuracy. It is targeted to be deployed by mid- 2022.

This project marked the beginning of my social innovation organization, WaterMon. The main aim of WaterMon is to develop affordable, sustainable water sanitation solutions that empower communities to become stakeholders in environmental management. Going by WaterMon’s motto, “By the community, for communities,” I have open-sourced the design and code through GitHub so that anyone can build the solutions and test them out on their local water sources. WaterMon’s work has been recognized and supported by IBM, UNHRC and David Clark Cause, enabling it to expand its reach further.

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This experience has enabled me to appreciate technology’s potential to solve problems. Additionally, I realized the value of the various aspects of building sustainable solutions, such as the need for community participation, the requirement for interdisciplinary skills, and managing solution economics. I hope this initiative will contribute to reviving the lakes in my community and beyond. Then foam will have to make do with our baths and coffees.