NAGPUR, MARCH 26: Indiscriminate garbage and sewage disposal system in Nagpur is taking toll of its groundwater. A recent study showes that the nitrate level in the groundwater, mainly in the land fill areas of eastern and southern parts, rising well above the permissible limits, rendering the water unfit for drinking.The water quality study by the central region of the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has shown that in the areas lying on the banks of the Nag River, Dhantoli onwards and mainly the land fill areas in Mahakalkar Nagar and Sangharsh Nagar in the eastern part of the city, the Nitrate levels in the ground water hover around 200 mg/litre (parts per million), well above the international permissible limit of 45 mg, many of these areas do not have drinking water supply from the Municipal Corporation, thus forcing the residents to use ground water for drinking and domestic purposes.Nitrate toxicity is considered to be the main cause of Methaemoglobinemia a diseasewherein due to the high content of nitrate in the blood, the haemoglobin denatures into methaemoglobin, which has a very low oxygen carrying capacity as compared to haemoglobin. Consumption of drinking water containing high amount of nitrate, over a long period of time can lead to nitrate toxicity.Samples from Bhandewadi and Pardi-Punapur road in East Nagpur have shown staggering Nitrate levels of 556 and 420 mg/litre respectively. About 60 per cent of the samples collected from all over the city have shown nitrate levels of above 45 mg/l, 33 per cent of them showing values more than 100 mg Western part of the city is well off, as the nitrate content in the samples, collected from both hand pumps and dug wells along the Nag River from Ambhazari and Phutala tanks show nitrate content below 45 mg are nitrate content in the ground water in various parts of city (all figures in mg/l): Juni Shukrawari 192, Juna Bagadganj 207, Ambedkar Chowk (Wardhaman Nagar) 165, Shastri Nagar Slum209, Mahakalkar Layout 260, Sangharsha Nagar 160, Bhandara Road (old Pardi) 130.The cause of the nitrate pollution in the city ground water has been attributed to the indiscriminate garbage and sewage disposal system. Most of the domestic sewage of the city flows into the Nag river, while the Bhandewadi and Pardi area, specifically Sangharsha Nagar and Mahakalkar Nagar in eastern part of the city and a few spots along the Pili Nadi in North Nagpur are receiving seats for the entire municipal and domestic waste (land fill areas) of the city. Also as a more local reason there are number of government lavatories in the Pardi and Bhadewadi area and also the areas include densely populated slums.Speaking to The Indian Express, Santosh Kumar Sharma, regional director, CGWB, said that the normally, the nitrate content of the unpolluted ground water is less than five mg/l (ppm). However the ground water in the residential and industrial areas show higher concentration of nitrates, due to the disposal ofwastes, which carry nitrates. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have placed the permissible (tolerable) limit of nitrate content in drinking water as 45 mg CGWB collected about 30 samples, from both hand pump and dug wells in various parts of city to study the water quality. The samples were mostly collected from wells of areas, which are situated on either side of the Nag River. It was found that from Dhantoli onwards upto Pardi, the Nitrate content in Ground Water increases, reaching very high at Bhandewadi and Pardi-Punapur Road.The CGWB report mentions that in most of the areas, where high content of nitrate have been found, water from these hand pumps and wells are used for domestic and occasionally for drinking purposes.Sharma said that although bio-denitrification of the ground water is possible, more convenient way of preventing nitrate pollution is to control the source of pollution, that is stopping the dumping of the untreatedsewage and garbage in Nag river and the land fill areas respectively.The report suggests that the drainage in slum areas need to be made effective so as not to pollute the ground water. The location of the land fill sites also need review, as the land fill sites should be in places that are underlaid by massive impermeable rock formations, so that the pollutants from the dumps do not percolate into the ground water. For this, specific studies considering the hydrogeological situations in the areas should be made before delineating them as land fill sites, the report further suggests.Sharma said that the CGWB will conduct more detailed studies in the affected parts of the city, so as to come up with a more clear picture of the situation.
