Overall Status of Ground-Water Quality in Country

The Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing programmes related to the pollution abatement of water bodies such as rivers and lakes. The Ministry of Water Resources is the nodal agency in all matters related to ground water. The Central Pollution Control Board has established a network of 411 Wells for monitoring the ground water quality. Co-ordination among various Ministries is ensured through committees like Water Quality Assessment Authority (WQAA), which is the apex body to monitor and check ground water depletion and pollution, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRABA) headed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister etc. with representation at appropriate levels from different Ministries including M/o Water Resources etc.

Pollution and Depletion Threaten Groundwater

The groundwater becomes polluted when toxic substances become dissolved in water at the land surface and are carried down, or leached, to the aquifer with the percolated water. The groundwater contamination is the result of human activities on the land surface. Many of these activities involve the use and disposal of chemicals which are potential pollutants. Since groundwater moves slowly, many years may pass before a pollutant released on the land surface above the aquifer is detected in water taken from the aquifer some distance away. This means that the contamination is often widespread before being detected. Groundwater becomes depleted in an area where more water is being drawn out on an aquifer and consumptively used than is entering or recharging the aquifer.

Overall Status

Apart from reported cases by different institutions, groundwater quality concerns in India was realized way-back in mid eighties with a systematic study of groundwater quality and identification of ‘problematic zones’ by Central Pollution Control Board with reference to pollution. These (problem) areas due to their complex industrial scenario and increasing dependence on natural resources have been witness to excessive exploitation of groundwater for domestic and industrial uses. With pollution control enforcement activities gaining momentum there were observed cases of indiscriminate waste disposal, subsurface discharge of effluent and inappropriate wastewater management by industries. This has led to severe stress on groundwater, in terms of ‘quantitative imbalance’ as well as ‘quality deterioration’. In consideration of the pollution in these problem areas, Central Pollution Control Board has monitored the groundwater quality in these areas.

Besides this, the country is facing severe problem of natural geogenic pollution such as Arsenic and Fluoride. The states like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh is having Arsenic Contamination, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan is having Fluoride problem while Maharashtra is having Nitrate Problem.

Ground water quality is deteriorated mainly due to following factors:

1. Natural contaminants e.g. fluroids, arsenic, salinity and iron.

2. Man-made sources e.g. domestic sewage, industrial effluents and agricultural chemicals.

S. No.	Contaminants	Sources		Affected Areas
1.	Fluoride	Natural		About 200 districts in 20 states of the country
2.	Arsenic	Natural		3 districts of West Bengal and some projects of Bihar
3.	Iron	Natural		North-Eastern states of India
4.	Salinity	Natural and Man-made		Many intensive integrated areas, coastal areas, high exploitation areas
5.	Nitrate	Man-made Uncollected sewage, garbage and intensive application of fertilizers		Large urban areas especially metro cities and intensive application of  fertiliser areas.
6.	Pathogens	Man-made Uncollected sewage, garbage and intensive application of fertilizers		Large urban areas especially metro cities and intensive application of  fertiliser areas.
7.	Pesticides	Intensive pesticides application areas		Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab

Steps to Prevent Deterioration in Pollution

Two important legislation-Water ( Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Environment ( Protection) Act, 1986 have been promulgated by the government. Several initiatives are taken. They include:

1) Setting up standards of effluents;

2) Regular monitoring of effluents;

3) Special drive for 17 categories of highly pollution industries;

4) Several incentives for control of pollution;

5) Legislation for environmental auditing;

6) Scheme for ‘eco mark’ for voluntary promoting eco-friendly products in the market;

7) Promotion of low waste and no-waste technology for production;

8) Pollution abatement policy 1992;

9) Policy on conservation and management of natural resources; and

10) Common Effluent Plants (CEPs) and Treatment Storage and Disposal Facilities(TSDF)



For control of urban sewage pollution River Action Plan is launched.Under this programme, a large number of sewage treatment plants are established.