As summer sets in, India says 33% of its groundwater undrinkable

New Delhi – As India braces for the torrid summer heat for the next 6-8 months, with daytime temperatures already touching 40 deg.C in parts of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, officials have admitted that the crucial groundwater situation in more than a third of the country is not fit for drinking.

The government has admitted in parliament that iron levels in groundwater are higher than those prescribed in 254 districts while fluoride levels have breached the safe level in 224 districts.

The alarming situation could bring trouble for the government, which has promised to provide drinking water to all habitations by 2012 under the United Nations millennium development goals.

While ground water is not the only source of drinking water that government utilises, it is one of the key supplies and the dependence on ground water has been increasing over years.

The government, in its reply, said salinity had risen beyond tolerance levels in 162 districts while arsenic levels were found higher than permissible limits in 34 districts. India has over 600 administrative districts.

States like Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat seemed to be worst affected. Twenty-one of the 26 districts of Gujarat were found to have dangerous salinity levels and 18 had breached safe fluoride levels.

The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) found 21 of 31 districts in the southern state of Karnataka to be contaminated with iron and 20 districts with higher levels of fluoride.

In the case of Rajasthan, ground water in 27 districts was found to be too saline, 30 districts had higher levels of fluoride and 28 suffered from iron contamination.

The national capital of New Delhi does not fare any better, with five of its nine districts showing fluoride contamination and two showing salinity. Pockets of all the nine districts had high iron content.

The government admission, comes soon after the World Bank said that if the current trends of acute groundwater use continue, 60% of all acquifers in India could run dry in 20 years or will be in a critical condition..

It has urged priority action through higher investment in management of groundwater resources to reduce over exploitation, especially in view of the fact that there is major dependence by several sectors on the resources countrywide.

Groundwater resources are being depleted at an alarming rate. Today, 29% of groundwater blocks are semi-critical, critical, or overexploited, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly.

By 2025, an estimated 60% of India's groundwater blocks will be in a critical condition. Climate change will further strain groundwater resources. Almost 54% of the groundwater blocks in Gujarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu fall in these categories.

Today, out of total 5,723 groundwater blocks in the country, 1,615 are classified as semi-critical, critical or over-exploited, and regulatory directives have been issued by the Central Ground Water Authority for 108 blocks.

India is the largest user of groundwater in the world, with an estimated use of 230 cubic kilometres of groundwater every year—more than a quarter of the global total.



In fact, groundwater use has been steadily increasing in India over the last 4-5 decades. Today, groundwater supports approximately 60% of irrigated agriculture and more than 80% of rural and urban water supplies.

"Today, groundwater supports approximately 60 percent of irrigated agriculture and more than 80 percent of rural and urban water supplies (in India)," said the World Bank report.

Around 29 percent of groundwater blocks, are semi-critical, critical or overexploited, and the situation is deteriorating rapidly. Climate change will further strain groundwater resources, the statement quoted the report as having said.

While urban centres in the country deploy water treatment systems before supplying water to homes, the costs of cleaning up as well as chances of contamination remain

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