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Watch that
Water you are Drinking !
Anuradha T N & Meghna Das
cleanindia@sdalt.ernet.in
W ater
pollution is a serious problem in India as almost 70% of its surface
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Testing the murky
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water resources and a growing number of its groundwater reserves are
already contaminated by biological, toxic organic and inorganic
pollutants. Inadequate treatment of human and animal waste
contribute to the high incidence of water-related diseases in the
country. Improper disposal of solid waste also leads to surface and
groundwater pollution. Runoff from garbage dumps and city streets
litter are carried to nearby streams and canals. Leaching from
landfills and garbage pits perculates toxic substances and heavy
metals to the water table.
With so
many avenues for its contamination, being a universal solvent, water
tends to dissolve anything and everything that comes its way, thus
changing its quality every minute.
To
understand the prevalent water quality in our country, CLEAN-India
has taken up the task of seasonally assessing the drinking water
quality, to make people aware, and implement the possible remedial
measures. Various groups of students analyze the drinking and
surface water quality, investigate the conditions of local
environment and instigate communities to take action to solve the
problems. CLEAN-India provides a forum for students and communities
from across the country to join forces to monitor the quality of
water in their respective areas.
The
monitoring is done using a portable water testing kit – the Jal-TARA
kit which is an easy to operate water quality testing kit developed
by Development Alternatives. This kit can perform basic tests to
ensure that the water is fit for drinking, domestic and other
purposes. It can test for 14 essential parameters for drinking and
river water quality. These include simple tests to assess the levels
of specific physical, chemical and biological components.
This
process helps in keeping a continuous check on the quality of water
as well as generating a drinking water quality database of 28 cities
across India, seasonally. This certainly facilitates the people
affected by water quality problems to evaluate and change their
dismal situation.
q
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Ground Water in
India.... Receding and of Poor Quality
A n
interesting and alarming observation that came to the fore
while monitoring the 28 cities is that in many areas, people
depend heavily on ground water for all their needs. This could
be due to the fact that they either do not receive piped water
(which is supplied by the municipality), or get an
insufficient amount. While monitoring water in these places,
it was found that the ground water in many areas is exceeding
the permissible limits of parameters like fluoride,
hardness, ammonia.
In Delhi, fluoride
content of ground Water in Rithala Village, was
recorded as high as 6.39 mg/l. Ground water of Police Colony,
Budh Vihar, Azadpur, Wazirpur Industrial Area, Lawrence Road,
Balmiki Basti and Moti Bagh depicted nitrate values
above 100 mg/l. Balmiki Basti had a very high nitrate
value of 680mg/l. Over a short span of few months, many of the
hand pumps (used for collecting water samples) have dried up
or have started yielding muddy water.
In Varanasi (U.P.),
Ammonia was found in the tap and ground water in almost half
the monitored sites, while a high degree of hardness was
discovered in 40 of the 49 sites. Phosphorous was also found
much beyond the permissible limit in the River Varuna and the
different ponds monitored. In Muzaffarnagar (U.P.), chloride
was found beyond 1000 mg/l in Jansath Stand, Mahavir Chowk and
Khala Par. In Jhansi (U.P.), ground water is observed to be
mostly contaminated with coliform bacteria and is also very
hard. Water from an open well in Masjid Elite has hardness
nearing 1800mg/l. In Udaipur (Rajasthan), hardness was high in
all the 20 sites monitored, going beyond 700mg/l in Sukher,
while fluoride was on the borderline in many cases. In
Ranikhet (Uttaranchal), Ammonia was present in all the 13
sites monitored (which included ground water and municipal
sources) in the town.
In Vijaywada (Andhra
Pradesh), almost 50% of the sampled places tested positive in
terms of coliform bacteria and Ammonia and observed to have
high hardness., The waters of Akivapuram, VGP Garden and Kodai
Lakes in the picturesque hill station, Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu
) exhibited very high or low pH, and low DO and high
Phosphorous, indicating high pollution of the water bodies. In
Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu), ground water has high hardness and
chloride content.
q
For updated water quality
results and details of health effects of various parameters,
visit www.cleanindia.org |
Drinking Water Quality
at a Glance
Results of Water Monitoring
Conducted during Jan-Feb, 2003 by CLEAN-India Centres
|
Parameter |
State |
Source of
water |
Affected
Cities* |
|
Nitrate |
Maharashtra |
Ground water |
Aurangabad
|
|
Rajasthan |
Municipal Supply water |
Jaipur |
|
Ground water |
Udaipur |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
Municipal Supply water |
Muzaffarnagar |
|
Ammonia |
Maharashtra |
Ground water |
Aurangabad |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Aurangabad |
|
Rajasthan |
Ground water |
Udaipur,
Jaipur |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Jaipur |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
Ground water |
Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Jhansi |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Jhansi
|
|
Uttaranchal |
Ground water |
Dehradun, Ranikhet |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Dehradun, Ranikhet |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
Ground water |
Vijayawada,
Kurnool |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Vijayawada,
Kurnool |
|
Pondicherry |
Ground water |
Pondicherry |
|
Tamil Nadu |
Ground water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
Ground water |
Kurnool |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Kurnool |
|
Fluoride |
Rajasthan |
Ground water |
Udaipur |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Udaipur |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
Ground water |
Kurnool |
|
Coliform bacteria |
Maharashtra |
Ground water |
Aurangabad
|
|
Rajasthan |
Ground water |
Udaipur,
Jaipur |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Jaipur |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
Ground water |
Jhansi |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
Ground water |
Vijayawada
|
|
Municipal Supply water |
Vijayawada
|
|
Hardness
|
Maharashtra |
Ground water |
Aurangabad
|
|
Municipal Supply water |
Aurangabad |
|
Rajasthan |
Ground water |
Udaipur,
Jaipur |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Udaipur |
|
Uttar Pradesh |
Ground water |
Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Jhansi, Lalitpur |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Lucknow, Varanasi, Lalitpur |
|
Uttaranchal
|
Ground water |
Dehradun |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Dehradun |
|
Madhya Pradesh |
Ground water |
Indore,
Bhopal |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Indore,
Bhopal |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
Ground water |
Vijayawada,
Kurnool |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Vijayawada,
Kurnool |
|
Tamil Nadu |
Ground water |
Nagercoil |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Nagercoil |
|
Chloride |
Uttar Pradesh |
Ground water |
Muzaffarnagar, Lalitpur |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Muzaffarnagar, Lalitpur |
|
Madhya Pradesh |
Municipal Supply water |
Bhopal, Indore |
|
Ground water |
Indore |
|
Tamil Nadu |
Ground water |
Nagercoil |
|
Pondicherry |
Ground water |
Pondicherry |
|
Andhra Pradesh |
Ground water |
Kurnool |
|
Iron |
Rajasthan |
Ground water |
Udaipur |
|
Tamil Nadu |
Ground water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Surface water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Phosphates |
Uttar Pradesh |
Surface water |
Varanasi |
|
Tamil Nadu |
Surface water |
Kodaikanal |
|
pH (acidic/alkaline) |
Tamil Nadu |
Surface water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Ground water |
Kodaikanal |
|
Municipal Supply water |
Kodaikanal |
|
These samples
have been collected from individual sources i.e. either from public
taps, hand pumps, markets, houses etc.
* Cities where the parameter are above permissible limits in more
than 50% of the total number of areas monitored
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