Field Trip to Kolar

So we left at 7:30 on April 18th to get to Kolar.

We reached there at around 10, and got another bus-uphill, to get to Tarabettahalli. That was where the theatre group-AADIMA had their campsite or lodge.

It was a lovely place, very scenic. We had lunch, and prepared for our main goal of collecting water samples from the wells, close by, with the help of the locals there.

We stepped out at around 3 in the afternoon, and trekked our way through the wilderness, the rocky terrain, to collect water samples from many wells. Some wells were used for drinking ater purposes, others were completely dirty and cloudy. Still other wells were lying unused, we even came across a well that had a rusted, old turbine. If it was maintained well, it could still have been used.

So we finished collecting the samples, and made our way back to the AADIMA site. We had come snacks,and then decided to test a few samples.

Not much arsenic was detected in the water, to our disappointment.

We also put 2 or 3 droplets of water on glass-slides, and viewed it through the microscope, to see if there were any living micro-organisms in the water.

The next day, we stepped out early to go down-hill to the Kolar-Gold Fields. We collected samples of water, this time, not groundwater, but water from hospitals, hotels, pani-puri centres, and tap water.

We even spoke to some people from the municipality of Kolar, to get more information on the water problems in Kolar.

Thus, bringing our field trip to an end.

We made our way back to Bangalore, the next day, and tested the water samples. Although there was not much arsenic content in the water, we were happy that we spoke to the locals, and got to know their struggles in getting good, drinking water, and other encounters.

We have made a research paper, a s hort film on our field trip to kolar, as well as a map, to show the places from where we collected the different water samples.