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| J&K's ground water's health is deteriorating | | Water depletion recorded in over 55 % wells analysed, contamination in nine districts | |
Early Times Report
JAMMU, Dec 27:Despite being a hilly state and less industrial growth, the ground water's health of Jammu and Kashmir has been deteriorating with water depletion recorded in over half of the wells analysed while contamination of various chemicals have been recorded in nine districts of the state.
The disclosure gained significance in view of the launch of Atal Bhujal Yojana-a scheme aimed at improving groundwater management through community management by Prime Minister.
According to sources the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) carried out ground water monitoring four times a year and to asses the declining/rising trend in water level on a long-term basis, pre- monsoon water level data 2019 has been compared with the decadal average (2009-2018) water level. In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, a total of 204 ground wells were analysed out of which 118 had recorded a fall in the water level that too over 58 percent while 86 wells had recorded rise of water level at 42 percent.
Moreover different contaminants in ground water of Jammu and Kashmir were also found during the study conducted by CGWB. Ground water in two districts had fluoride in ground water above 1.5 mg/litre, while six districts have nitrate in ground water above 45 mg/litre. Three districts have arsenic contamination above 0.01 mg/litre while 9 districts have contamination of iron above 1 mg/litre in ground water and three districts had lead in ground water above 0.01mg/litre and one district has cadmium contamination above 0.003 mg/litre. "Lead and arsenic are heavy metals and their availability in the ground water can be responsible for serious diseases", a scholar said.
Moreover six districts have also found nitrate contamination above 45 mg/litre. Though CGWB have not mentioned the districts but according to a scholar working on the ground water situation said that the Udhampur district has fluoride content in ground water while Samba, Jammu, Kathua have nitrate contents in the ground water due to shallow aquifers and use of fertilizers.
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