Punjab groundwater contamination a public health emergency, says MP Satnam Singh Sandhu

“According to this report, uranium exceeds the safe limit in 62.5 per cent of water samples in Punjab, which is the highest rate of contamination in the whole of India. This is not just an environmental crisis; it is a serious public health emergency,” he said. “In more than half of the samples, uranium is above 30 parts per billion which is causing cancer and kidney diseases in our future generations. Furthermore, the excess amounts of nitrate in 14.6 per cent and fluoride in 11 per cent of the samples are making our children susceptible to blue baby syndrome and bone diseases.”

Sandhu said the contamination was not limited to health hazards. “There is also a threat to agriculture. Residual sodium carbonate and increasing salinity in 25 per cent of the samples are turning our fertile land barren. I strongly appeal to the Central Government to immediately launch a special groundwater mitigation mission to save Punjab from this disaster,” he said.

He urged the government to install RO based community water treatment systems in affected villages and conduct deep aquifer mapping to locate clean water sources. He also sought health screening camps in disease affected areas.

“Water is a national asset. The Punjab that feeds the entire country today has its own people forced to drink poisoned water. The health of the annadata is paramount and we must take immediate action,” he said.

According to the CGWB’s 2025 report, Punjab is the worst affected state, with uranium above the permissible limit of 30 ppb detected in 53.04 per cent of samples before the monsoon and 62.5 per cent after it. In 2024, 32.6 per cent samples were contaminated. The proportion that breached the safe limit has risen by 91.7 per cent this year.

Sixteen of Punjab’s 23 districts have been categorised as contaminated zones. These include Tarn Taran, Patiala, Sangrur, Moga, Mansa, Barnala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Amritsar, Muktsar and Bathinda. Two districts, Sangrur and Bathinda, recorded uranium concentrations exceeding 200 ppb.