MEERUT: Rivers in western Uttar Pradesh like Kali, Krishna
and Hindon have been polluted to dangerous levels because of the industrial
waste released illegally into them by the industries. So grave is the pollution that they have also
contaminated the groundwater of hundreds of villages located on the banks of
these rivers thereby endangering the health of millions of people, revealed a
scientific study of one of the rivers Kali which flows through nine districts
and covers about 200 km.
Testing
of 16 water samples, eight of ground water and eight of river water from eight
districts which the Kali flows through has shown that not only the river water
has been seriously contaminated but that has also contaminated the groundwater
of the villages located on its bank in eight districts.
The
tests were done from the government- approved lab ‘the Dehradun-based People’s
Science Institute’ (PSI). The villages from where samples were picked are
located in a radius of 2 kilometers of Kali.
The
heavy metals present in the Kali have entered the groundwater of these villages
through seepage. The results of the test has shown that dangerously high levels
of lead, total dissolved solids and iron, have been found in the water samples
picked from the hand pump of eight villages, According to Sunil Gupta, senior
consultant, medical oncologist, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research
Centre, Delhi, continued consumption of heavy metals can have serious diseases
like cancer.
Accordingly
the research team of Meerut- based NEER Foundation which did the study of water
in Kali river in collaboration with WWF, found several cases of stomach
ailments, brain disorder and even cancer among the residents of these villages.
Raman
Tyagi, the director of the NEER Foundation, told THE HINDU that “while these villages
don’t have good public health system private doctors in these villages told us
that a large number of people suffer from serious diseases and many of them had
died due to cancer owing to groundwater contamination.
For
instance, the amount of lead in villages located in Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr
and Aligarh was dangerously high, The amount of lead in the water in a hand
pump at Rampura village in Bulandshahr was 0.35 mg/L which is 35 times higher
than its permissible limit of 0.01 mg/L in ground water.
The
residents of Antwada village in Jansath
block of Muzaffarnagar, were found to be using a hand pump where the amount of
lead was found to be 0.21 mg/L which is 21 times of the permissible limit.
