Poison in India’s groundwater posing national health crisis

New Delhi: 2nd May 2012

Depletion of groundwater and its increasing pollution could be leading to a silent, nationwide health crisis as aquifers in many stretches across India are becoming unfit for drinking, according to government figures. Data submitted in Parliament by the water resources ministry on Monday shows groundwater in pockets of 158 out of the 639 districts has gone saline. It says in pockets across 267 districts, groundwater contains excess fluoride; in 385 districts, it has nitrates beyond permissible levels; in 53 there’s arsenic and there’s high level of iron in 270 districts. 

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