Water quality at 334 Malwa govt schools to be examined

Balwant Garg

Faridkot, May 27

The Water Resources Department has identified 334 government schools in Faridkot, Muktsar, Ferozepur, Bathinda and Fazilka districts to check the quality of groundwater.

DEOs told to help

The School Education Department has written to DEOs of Faridkot, Muktsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Fazilka, asking them to help the Water Resources Department in checking the quality of groundwater.

Shallow observation wells will be drilled and constructed in these schools under the National Hydrology Project.

In a letter to the District Education Officers (DEOs) of Faridkot, Muktsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur and Fazilka, the School Education Department has asked them to provide help to the Water Resources Department.

Sources in the Water Resources Department say groundwater at a depth of 45 to 60 m in Muktsar, Faridkot, Bathinda, Mansa and parts of Sangrur is neither fit for drinking nor good for irrigating the fields due to high salinity or alkalinity.

A World Bank-aided hydrology project phase II study was conducted some time back and groundwater samples at 45-60m depth were collected during the installation of observation wells. On the basis of tests such as electrical conductivity (EC) and residual sodium carbonate (RSC), 53 per cent of the samples were found to be “fit” and the remaining samples were “marginal to unfit”.

The study’s objective was to examine the quality of drinking water and guide the state on the possible responses, say said the sources.

It is feared that groundwater in south-western Punjab contains several minor chemical components or trace elements that exceed the standards for drinking water. The chemical components are heavy metals such as lead, selenium, chromium, cadmium and nickel and aluminium, arsenic, uranium, fluoride, and nitrate.

In 2009, concerns about metal exposure arose when hair and urine samples of Faridkot children were found to have high amounts of barium, cadmium, manganese, lead and uranium, signifying long-term exposure.

At that time, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) had tested 235 groundwater and surface water samples collected from Bathinda, Mansa, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts.

About 42 per cent of the samples had uranium concentration above 60 parts per billion (ppb), a limit set by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), say the sources.