Megh Pyne Abhiyan (MPA), a non-profit organisation (NGO) in association with Jadavpur University, surveyed 20 habitations in six revenue villages of Gharbar panchayat in Jharkhand’s Baliapur block, Dhanbad district and found varying levels of fluoride contamination in groundwater.
According to the survey, micro-level planning is required by the policymakers and the administration in providing potable drinking water after experts from Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) raised concerns about the contamination percentage of water sources, which is above permissible limits.
“The CGWB came up with a list of districts across the country in 2022 where fluoride and arsenic contamination was found to be above permissible limits. Dhanbad district was on the list of fluoride contamination. We took it from there and did a micro-level survey in different habitations along with alternatives,” said Eklavya Prasad from MPA.
Also Read: Cold wave prevails in North India, IMD issues red alert for fog
Study finds that high levels of fluoride contamination could lead to several health hazards, including dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, arthritis, bone damage, osteoporosis, muscular damage, fatigue, joint-related problems and other chronicle issues.
As per the findings, the fluoride contamination above the permissible limit of 1.5 mg/l in water sources across the surveyed 20 habitations was around 37%, while those between 1 to 1.5 mg/l stood at 10%.
As per the CGWB report of 2022, fluoride beyond permissible limit was encountered in certain isolated pockets (point source) of 370 districts in 23 states, including 12 in Jharkhand, and arsenic contamination in certain isolated pockets (point source) of 152 districts in 21 States, including two from Jharkhand.
Jalk Shakti ministry, in a reply in Lok Sabha on March 24, 2022, said that to address the contamination problems in drinking water, the central government, in collaboration with states, is implementing the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)’ established in August 2019 to provide a potable tap water supply of prescribed quality to every rural household in the country by 2024.
Also Read: Delhi’s AQI worsens, plunges into ‘severe’ category despite curbs on vehicles
“Under JJM, while planning water supply schemes to provide tap water supply to households, priority is given to quality-affected habitations,” the reply stated.
Prasad, who also is an expert in the field, said besides the micro-level contamination figures, they also suggested in the report submitted to the deputy commission (DC) Sandeep Singh, Dhanbad, last week, the alternatives of water resources and steps that could be taken to check contamination.
According to Singh, the report was marked to the concerned departments for further action.
“We already have data on water contamination. Now we have third-party figures. We have marked it to the concerned departments to vet the new findings. There are work suggestions as well. If they are worthy, we can use them in future,” Singh said.
