Rural drinking water contaminated in Gujarat: Study

Chemical and bacteriological contamination has been found in drinking water samples in eight districts of Gujarat, a recent study by a government-aided body here has revealed.

The findings of the Multi-District Assessment of Water Safety (M-DAWS) study by Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) also found residual chlorine, crucial for ensuring water quality and protection from microbiological contamination, was absent in almost all samples tested.

Presence of small amounts of human and animal faeces, which is one of the important indicator for bacteriological contamination was found in many of the samples.

In terms of chemical contamination, the study found more than permissible amounts of nitrate, fluorides and TDS (total dissolved solids) in many of the samples collected from different water sources across eight districts.

The permissible limit of nitrate in potable water is 45 mg per litre (mg/l) but nitrate value of 150 mg/l was found in hand-pump samples of Valsad while maximum occurrence of samples having values higher than permissible limit of nitrate was found in hand-pumps of Vadodara (44 per cent).

It was observed that 30 per cent of samples had nitrate value higher than 45mg/l.

"This (higher value of nitrate in water samples) is attributed to local mixing of unfit source of water, which needs to be critically looked into," the study observed.