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A Tribune Special
Budda Nullah high on toxic metals
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 26
Notwithstanding the claims of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) that all Industrial units in Ludhiana are treating industrial waste, effluents, including lethal heavy metals like lead, nickel, cadmium and chromium, are finding their way into the Budda nullah and underground water.

The industrial units are allegedly dumping toxic elements directly into underground water through pits dug up illegally.

A fresh study by a team led by Dr Mukand Singh Brar, a Professor in the Department of Soils, PAU, stated that a high concentration of toxic metals was present in tubewell as well as handpump water samples taken from areas adjoining the Budda nullah.

A previous study showed that the nullah was almost clean till Dhanasu village where it enters the city. After that the presence of heavy metals shoots up by over hundreds times.

The presence of heavy metals in high concentration in the underground water has become a cause of alarm for city residents as the metals are known to cause cancer. Lead cause toxicity in humans and animals.

The nullah eventually falls into the Sutlej. The water of the river is used for drinking purposes in the Abohar — Fazilka belt and in Rajasthan.

The highly polluted air consisting of poisonous fumes and fly ash in this industrial city is reported to have caused tuberculosis to over 10,000 patients, according to an estimate of the TB Eradication Society, Ludhiana. The concentration of patients is more along the nullah.

The effluents were also resulting in high concentration of toxic metals in vegetables grown alongside the nullah and those irrigated with its water.

According to the study, the concentration of lead, chromium, cadmium and nickel in sewage contaminated water was 20, 118, 13 and 186 times higher, respectively, than the permissible limits in handpump water being recharged by the nullah.

Shockingly, in the underground water, the concentration of these metals was 21, 133, 280 and 300 times higher, respectively, than the permissible limits.

Similarly, the concentration of these metals in crops irrigated with this water was 4.88, 3.95, 0.25 and 3.68 mg per kg.

The study further points out that the nullah could be a boon for agriculture if only domestic waste, high in nutrients, was allowed to flow into it and industrial waste was completely banned.

The study suggests segregation of industrial and domestic waste as the only measure for saving the nullah.

The departments concerned seem content to be waiting for the completion of the Sutlej action plan which requires installation of sewerage treatment plants at key places along the nullah and the Sutlej this may take years.

The PPCB secretary, Mr Malwinder Singh, said the industrial units in the city had installed treatment plants as per reports reaching him. He, however, admitted that it was possible that some industrialists might not be using the treatment plants regularly to save money.