Laboratory testing
We operate 22 TWAD Board laboratories across seven districts, testing 66,000+ samples a year for chemical, physical and biological parameters.
Water quality & safety
Coodu Trust is the outsourcing agency that runs the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board’s district water testing laboratories — and trains villages to test their own water.
22
TWAD laboratories operated
66,000+
Samples tested a year
7
Districts served
658
Trained on Field Test Kits
Understanding
What water quality & safety means
What is water quality & safety?
Water quality & safety work ensures access to safe, clean drinking water through laboratory testing, quality monitoring and safety education — critical for preventing waterborne diseases and keeping village water supplies within national drinking water standards.
Coodu Trust was selected by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board as its outsourcing agency for water testing. The laboratories belong to the Board; we staff and run them. The 2024–25 annual report records 22 fully functional laboratories across seven districts of the Thanjavur region — Trichy, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam — each testing about 3,000 samples a year for physical, chemical and biological parameters, 66,000+ samples annually in all. Every result is compiled and submitted to the government.
Alongside the laboratories we train villages to test their own water with Field Test Kits (FTKs). 658 participants — Panchayati Raj Institution representatives and Self-Help Group women — were trained across five districts in 2023–24, and 1,272 members in 2022–23 under the Jal Jeevan Mission. Counting only the sample figures the reports state year by year, 111,000 samples have been tested since 2017–18.
- Water quality testing
- Community training
- Laboratory management
- Monitoring & surveillance
- Water treatment solutions
Why this work matters
The challenge on the ground — and our answer
The challenge
Unsafe water spreads disease
Water that fails safety standards for human consumption exposes whole communities to waterborne diseases.
Our response
Test water in real laboratories
22 TWAD Board laboratories, run by Coodu Trust across seven districts, test 66,000+ samples a year for physical, chemical and biological contaminants.
The challenge
Communities can't check their own water
Without local skills and equipment, villages have no way to assess the quality of the water they drink every day.
Our response
Put Field Test Kits in local hands
1,272 members trained on FTK testing in 2022–23 across Sivagangai, Virudhunagar, Theni and Dindigul, and 658 more in 2023–24 — monitoring stays in the village.
The challenge
Contamination goes unnoticed until people fall ill
Quality can slip anywhere along the chain — at the source, in storage tanks or in the distribution network.
Our response
Systematic surveillance, early detection
Continuous sampling across seven districts, reported to government on a regular basis, catches contamination before it reaches households.
The challenge
A failed test protects nobody on its own
Test data only helps if it reaches the people who can act on it — and if households know what safe handling and storage look like.
Our response
Data to government, awareness to households
Laboratory reports go to the authorities who fix the supply, while awareness programmes, training, wall writings and hoardings — delivered under a separate TWAD empanelment for IEC work — reach the households that store and use the water.
At a glance
The essentials
- Current status
- OngoingLaboratory operation and Field Test Kit training both recorded in the 2024–25 annual report
- Testing footprint
- 22 laboratoriesTrichy, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam — about 3,000 samples each a year
- Client & our role
- Outsourcing agencySelected by the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board to test its water samples; separately empanelled by the Board for IEC work on water and sanitation
- Local capacity
- 658 trained in 2023–24PRI representatives and SHG women across five districts; 1,272 trained in 2022–23 under the Jal Jeevan Mission
- Recorded since
- 2017–2018Water testing for the TWAD Board appears in every annual report from 2017–18 onwards; 111,000 samples across those years
- Delivery model
- Laboratory testing plus village monitoringEach laboratory staffed with a chemist, sample tester, lab assistant, lab attender and data entry operator
Track record
Project portfolio
| Programme | Period | Type | Highlights | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance of water quality testing laboratories (TWAD Board) | 2017–2025 | State programme | 22 laboratories across seven districts of the Thanjavur region; 66,000+ samples a year | Ongoing |
| Jal Jeevan Mission — Field Test Kit training (TWAD Board) | 2022–2025 | National mission | 1,272 members trained in 2022–23; 658 in 2023–24, restated in 2024–25 | Ongoing |
| IEC on water and sanitation (TWAD Board empanelment) | 2020–2022 | State programme | Awareness programmes, trainings, wall writings and hoardings in Dindigul, Tirunelveli, Theni and Virudhunagar; 1,200 participants | Completed |
| Grass-roots water quality monitoring training (TWAD Board) | 2015–2016 | State programme | 500 grass-roots workers and PRI/PWSS members in Dindigul and Cuddalore trained to test samples with field water testing kits and to plan, monitor and manage piped water supply schemes | Completed |
| School drinking water, sanitation & hygiene programme | 2017–2019 | Key activity | 200 students and teachers from five schools in Trichy district trained on water quality using field water testing kits | Completed |
Impact
What water quality & safety changes
Community training
1,272 members trained on Field Test Kits in 2022–23 and 658 in 2023–24, plus 500 grass-roots workers and PRI/PWSS members in Dindigul and Cuddalore in 2015–16.
Data the state can act on
Test results are compiled and submitted to government on a regular basis, giving the authorities the evidence to intervene on contaminated supplies and to plan water and sanitation infrastructure.
Ownership in the village
PRI representatives, tank operators and SHG federation members now test and monitor their own supplies — and 200 students and teachers from five Trichy schools have been trained on water quality, hygiene and rainwater harvesting.
Get involved
Support safe water access
Help us expand our water quality and safety work to protect more communities from waterborne disease. Your support puts more Field Test Kits in village hands and extends laboratory-grade testing to districts that do not yet have it.