As I passed the river by the road bridge I smelt a foul, gut wrenching smell which made me quickly hold my breath until we were clear from the river. I hadn’t given it much thought, but I always wondered whether there was nothing which could be done to prevent the river from worsening and for that matter if we expand upon it oceans,lakes, and other water bodies as well. It also struck me this issue is one which is going on a large scale and if not solved will have disastrous consequences.

I live in India while it is an beautiful country and with an enormous population. This brings upon a number of challenges. It is now public information done by the government and independent researchers and people. That foul smell from the local river I passed by would in comparison be considered bearable to the smell that comes from a river like Yamuna. According to DPCC (Delhi Pollution Control Committee) and CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) monitoring, the Yamuna enters Delhi at Palla with a Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of about 3 mg/L and faecal coliform around 1,600 MPN/100 mL—both within safe limits—but by the time it reaches the Okhla Barrage, BOD soars to 25–27 mg/L and faecal coliform spikes to over 3.5 million MPN/100 mL, vastly exceeding CPCB standards (BOD ≤ 3 mg/L; FC ≤ 500 MPN/100 mL). Under these conditions, the water becomes anaerobic, generating hydrogen‑sulfide and other toxins that can cause severe skin infections or even necrosis upon prolonged contact. The Delhi Pollution Control Committee therefore classifies this as “not fit for bathing”. Along with this we all know that River Ganga has also been labelled among the world’s most polluted major rivers—carrying over 1.4 billion litres of untreated sewage daily and high levels of industrial toxins—despite a $3.8 billion cleanup effort under the Namami Gange programme.

All of this lead me to come to a idea while not simple but extremely necessary about an robot Oceano to help clean up the rivers and for that matter also aligning with directly with SDG 6.3’s goal to improve water quality and SDG 14.1’s mandate to prevent marine pollution. This robot will be powered by compact green‑hydrogen fuel cell making it more efficient and have it run 24/7 as compared to using solar electricity. The robot will be able to use multiple AI models for deep‑learning vision models trained on millions of images to distinguish between plastic types, organic debris and potentially microplastics via sensors. The robot can carry an edge‑computing module that compresses and encrypts real‑time water‑quality data—BOD, coliform levels, dissolved oxygen, nutrient loads, and species counts—before streaming it via a mesh‑network of low‑power LoRaWAN gateways along the riverbank. Along with this it will also have an diagnostics schedule for preventive maintenance before failures occur, maximizing uptime. Lastly we can flip it into “survey mode,” using multibeam sonar and LiDAR to map the seabed and reveal hidden debris fields. Their GPS and inertial data weave together pollution hotspots and underwater contours into interactive 3D maps, showing exactly where currents deposit plastic so we can target big cleanups.

This is just one part of tackling the equation. That foul stench still haunts me. It’s not just rot it’s the smell of neglect, of a river screaming under the weight of our apathy. Oceano hopes to provide an way in which we can build something which can tackle this problem and play our part in making the Earth a better place for our generation and the generations to come.

Posted 14/09/2025