Contamination, Pollution and Quality

This draft research report by the People’s Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun deals with groundwater contamination near the Union Carbide plant at Bhopal. The main objective of PSI's monitoring exercise was to assess the degree of groundwater contamination, if any, in the vicinity of the erstwhile UCIL plant particularly in the context of the huge quantum of the ill-contained toxic wastes lying unheeded inside.

This study by Carewater focuses on the large number of ‘cottage’ type  Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants that came to be marketed for supplying good and safe water to the consumers under ‘packed drinking water’ category, and a big market for which emerged in North Gujarat. For the purposes of this study, ‘fluoride-free water’ means treated water containing prescribed quantity of fluoride and not completely ‘fluoride-free’.  

The report prepared by Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT) Kutch, Gujarat on behalf of Sahajeevan Trust aims to prepare a guideline for groundwater legislation to protect drinking water sources in the taluka.

This longitudinal study was undertaken by The Foundation for Medical Research and The Foundation for Research in Community Health in the Parinche valley in Purandar block (Pune district) of interior Western Maharashtra with the aim of testing bacteriological quality of rural water supplies.

This report from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) deals with the status of groundwater in the Wardha district of Maharashtra.

Read more

This section on water from the Punjab State of the Environment Report has been presented in the attachment. In addition to the actions being taken up by the state for conservation of water resources and preservation of its quality, the following additions are recommended in the report–

Water Conservation

The groundwater related issues and problems the distrcit include:

"Gasping for Breath" is a study by Janhit Foundation on water pollution in the Hindon river of Western Uttar Pradesh. This substantial scientific report details the gross contamination of the Hindon River with heavy metals and pesticides, and the subsequent contamination of the underlying groundwater water aquifer that his has caused. Consumption of this contaminated groundwater as a drinking water source is shown to be having a devastating effect on the health of the local population. 

The Andhra Pradesh State of the Environment Report is available at the Environmental Information System (ENVIS) cell of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) here. 

The School of Environmental Studies of Jadavpur University has studied the arsenic contamination for the last 19 years. Their website gives some of the details of their work -

Click here