Lok Sabha Question No. 3077 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-16
Subject: Heavy Metals in Ground Water
Ministry: JAL SHAKTI
Asked by: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI, DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3077

ANSWERED ON 16.12.2021

## HEAVY METALS IN GROUND WATER

## 3077.        SHRIMATI HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL

Will the Minister of JAL SHAKTI be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that arsenic and heavy metals are found in ground water across the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the details of number of habitations receiving contaminated water in the country;
- (c)  whether the Government is aware that in Punjab particularly in Malwa belt ground water comprises of uranium, arsenic, lead and heavy metals which has caused havoc and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to reduce contamination of water in the country and specifically in Punjab?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI

## (SHRI BISHWESWAR TUDU)

- (a)  Yes, Sir. Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) generates ground water quality data of the country on a regional scale as part of its ground water quality monitoring program and various scientific studies. These studies indicate the occurrence  of  contaminants  including  arsenic  and  heavy  metals  beyond  permissible  limits  (as  per  BIS)  for  human consumption in isolated pockets in various States/UTs. The details are given in Annexure-I .
- (b)  As reported by States/UTs (as on 13.12.2021) 36,873 rural habitations have been reported to have quality issues in drinking water sources. State-wise details in this regard are given at Annexure - II . Government of India in partnership with States, is implementing Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in rural areas to provide potable tap water of prescribed quality to every rural households, prioritising quality affected habitations in the country.
- (c)  As per the data available with CGWB, in the State of Punjab, particularly in Malwa belt, arsenic in ground water beyond the permissible limit has been encountered in 3 districts viz. Mansa, Faridkot and Sangrur; lead from 3 districts viz Bathinda, Ferozepur and Muktsar; cadmium from 4 districts viz Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Patiala; and Sangrur, Chromium from 3 districts viz Bathinda, Mansa, and Sangrur districts, uranium from 9 districts viz Bathinda, Moga, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Muktsar, Patiala and Sangrur.
- (d)  Water  being  a  State  subject,  initiatives  on  water  management,  including  its  quality  is  primarily  States' responsibility; however, various steps have been taken by the Central Government for facilitating ground water quality improvement/ remediation of contamination in the drinking water in the country including Punjab. Details in this regard are given at Annexure III. Further, as per information received from Government of Punjab, the State Government has already covered 707 quality affected habitations with short term/long term measures in terms of surface water projects, arsenic-cum-iron removal plants, household purifiers, community water purification plants and RO plants to provide potable water to affected citizens.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3077 ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16.12.2021 REGARDING 'HEAVY METALS IN GROUND WATER'.

States Wise Number of Partly Affected Districts with Arsenic and Heavy metals Contaminants in Ground Water of India

| S. No.   | State/ UT         | Arsenic (above 0.01 mg/l)                | Lead (above 0.01 mg/l)                   | Cadmium (above 0.003 mg/l)              | Chromium (above 0.05 mg/l)              |
|----------|-------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    | 3                                        |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 2        | Telangana         | 1                                        | 2                                        | 1                                       | 1                                       |
| 3        | Assam             | 19                                       |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 4        | Arunachal Pradesh |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 5        | Bihar             | 24                                       |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 6        | Chhattisgarh      | 1                                        | 1                                        | 1                                       | 1                                       |
| 7        | Delhi             | 2                                        | 3                                        | 1                                       | 4                                       |
| 8        | Goa               |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 9        | Gujarat           | 12                                       |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 10       | Haryana           | 15                                       | 17                                       | 7                                       | 1                                       |
| 11       | Himachal Pradesh  | 1                                        |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 12       | Jammu& Kashmir    | 3                                        | 3                                        | 1                                       |                                         |
| 13       | Jharkhand         | 2                                        | 1                                        |                                         |                                         |
| 14       | Karnataka         | 2                                        |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 15       | Kerala            |                                          | 2                                        |                                         | 1                                       |
| 16       | Madhya Pradesh    | 8                                        | 16                                       |                                         |                                         |
| 17       | Maharashtra       |                                          | 19                                       |                                         |                                         |
| 18       | Manipur           | 2                                        |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 19       | Meghalaya         |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 20       | Nagaland          |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 21       | Odisha            | 1                                        |                                          |                                         | 1                                       |
| 22       | Punjab            | 10                                       | 6                                        | 8                                       | 10                                      |
| 23       | Rajasthan         | 1                                        | 3                                        |                                         |                                         |
| 24       | Tamil Nadu        | 9                                        | 3                                        | 1                                       | 5                                       |
| 25       | Tripura           |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 26       | Uttar Pradesh     | 28                                       | 10                                       | 2                                       | 3                                       |
| 27       | Uttarakhand       |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 28       | West Bengal       | 9                                        | 6                                        | 2                                       | 2                                       |
| 29       | Andaman& Nicobar  |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 30       | Daman &Diu        | 1                                        |                                          |                                         |                                         |
| 31       | Puducherry        |                                          |                                          |                                         |                                         |
|          | Total             | Parts of 154 districts in 21 states &UTs | Pb in parts of 92 districts in 14 states | Cd in parts of 24 districts in 9 states | Cr in parts of 29districts in 10 states |

## ANNEXURE-II

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3077 ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16.12.2021 REGARDING 'HEAVY METALS IN GROUND WATER'.

## State-wise details of rural habitations having contaminants in drinking water source

| S. No.   | State/UT          |          |         |        |          |         |             |        |
|----------|-------------------|----------|---------|--------|----------|---------|-------------|--------|
|          |                   | Fluoride | Arsenic | Iron   | Salinity | Nitrate | Heavy Metal | Total  |
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh    | 86       | -       | -      | 12       | 1       | -           | 99     |
| 2.       | Arunachal Pradesh | -        | -       | 224    | -        | -       | -           | 224    |
| 3.       | Assam             | -        | 47      | 14,294 | -        | -       | 5           | 14,346 |
| 4.       | Bihar             | 1        | 11      | 450    | -        | -       | -           | 462    |
| 5.       | Chhattisgarh      | 154      | -       | 30     | -        | -       | -           | 184    |
| 6.       | Jammu &Kashmir    | 1        | -       | 2      | -        | -       | -           | 3      |
| 7.       | Jharkhand         | 48       | 1       | 127    | -        | -       | -           | 176    |
| 8.       | Kerala            | 5        | -       | 61     | 18       | 8       | -           | 92     |
| 9.       | Madhya Pradesh    | 53       | -       | 24     | 7        | 2       | -           | 86     |
| 10.      | Maharashtra       | 14       | -       | 8      | 13       | 44      | -           | 79     |
| 11.      | Odisha            | 68       | -       | 3,336  | 33       | 23      | -           | 3,460  |
| 12.      | Punjab            | 176      | 570     | 10     | -        | 37      | 184         | 977    |
| 13.      | Rajasthan         | 1,304    | -       | 5      | 10,104   | 691     | -           | 12,104 |
| 14.      | Tripura           | -        | -       | 1,079  | -        | -       | -           | 1,079  |
| 15.      | Uttar Pradesh     | 41       | 107     | 281    | 79       | 10      | -           | 518    |
| 16.      | Uttarakhand       | -        | -       | 2      | -        | 2       | -           | 4      |
| 17.      | West Bengal       | 145      | 1,066   | 1,630  | 72       | -       | 67          | 2,980  |
| Total    | Total             | 2,096    | 1,802   | 21,563 | 10,338   | 818     | 256         | 36,873 |

Source: JJM- IMIS

Note : The problems of quality affected habitations are being addressed through Jal Jeevan Mission.

## ANNEXURE-III

## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3077 ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 16.12.2021 REGARDING 'HEAVY METALS IN GROUND WATER'.

- (a) Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees (SPCBs/PCCs) is implementing the provisions of The Water (Prevention  &  Control)  Act,  1974  &  The  Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986  in  the  country including Punjab to prevent and control pollution in water.
- (b) Government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in 2019, a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including ground water conditions in the water stressed blocks of 256 districts in India including Punjab. In this regard, teams of officers from Central Government along-with technical officers from Ministry of Jal Shakti were deputed to visit  water  stressed  districts  and  to  work  in  close  collaboration  with  district  level  officials  to undertake suitable interventions.

In addition, Ministry of Jal Shakti has taken up the 'Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain' (JSA:CTR) with the theme 'Catch the Rain - Where it Falls When it Falls' to cover all the blocks of all districts (rural as well as urban areas) across the country including Punjab during 22nd March 2021 to 30th November 2021. The campaign was launched by the Hon'ble Prime Minister on 22 March 2021. The improved groundwater recharge due to construction of artificial  recharge  structures  and  increased water harvesting is likely to significantly contribute towards reducing the contaminants level in the aquifer waters.

- (c) Government  of  India  in  partnership  with  States,  is  implementing  Jal  Jeevan  Mission  (JJM)  since August, 2019 to provide potable tap water supply of prescribed quality to every rural household in the country including Punjab by 2024. Under JJM, while planning water supply schemes to provide tap water supply to house-holds, priority is given to quality-affected habitations. While allocating the funds to States/ UTs in a particular financial year, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants including Arsenic and Fluoride, as on 31st March of the preceding Financial Year.
- (d) Since, planning, implementation and commissioning of piped water supply schemes based on a safe water source may take time, purely as an interim measure, States/ UTs have been advised to install community water purification plants (CWPPs) in such habitations, to provide potable water to every household  at  the  rate  of  8-10  litre  per  capita  per  day  (lpcd)  to  meet  their  drinking  and  cooking requirements.

- (e) Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation had launched a National Water Quality Sub-Mission (NWQSM) on 22 nd March, 2017 as a part of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), which has now been subsumed under Jal Jeevan Mission, to provide safe drinking water to 27,544 Arsenic/ Fluoride affected rural habitations in the country including Punjab.
- (f) Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was launched on 25th June,  2015  in  selected  500  cities  of  the  country  including  Punjab  with  focus  on  development  of urban infrastructure in  various  sectors  including  water  supply.  States/UTs  have  the  option  to  take projects  on  special  water  supply  arrangements  for  difficult  areas,  hill  and  coastal  cities,  including those having water quality problems.
- (g) Under the National Aquifer Mapping Programme (NAQUIM) of CGWB, special attention is being given  to  the  aspect  of  ground  water  quality  including  contamination  by  toxic  substances  such  as Arsenic in ground water.
- (h) CGWB has constructed several exploratory and observation wells in the Country tapping the Arsenic safe  deeper  aquifer  zones  delineated  through  exploration  aided  detailed  aquifer  mapping  under National  Aquifer  Mapping  programme.   Successful  wells  have  been  handed  over  to  the  State Governments for their purposeful utilization. Further, CGWB is providing technical assistance to the States by sharing the cement sealing technology for tapping contamination free aquifers in Gangetic flood plains.
- (i) This Ministry has issued guidelines for control and regulation of groundwater extraction with panIndia  applicability  notified  on  24  September  2020.   The  guidelines  include  suitable  provisions  on measures to be adopted to control groundwater pollution.

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