Arsenic in groundwater: Centre to come up with exhaustive plan

The government will come up with an "exhaustive" work plan to tackle the challenges posed by the presence of arsenic in groundwater, Union minister Uma Bharti said today.
"The government will prepare an exhaustive work plan to meet the challenges posed by the presence of arsenic in groundwater," an official statement quoted the Water Resources Minister as saying during a workshop here.
The workshop on the presence of arsenic in groundwater and its remediation in the Ganga basin was organised by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB).
According to the World Health Organisation website, long-term exposure to arsenic through drinking water and food "can cause cancer and skin lesions".

Bharti did not specify the nature of problems the presence of arsenic in groundwater could cause, but stated that there was an urgent need for a nationwide movement to make people aware about it.
She said her ministry was giving "special attention" to tapping alternate aquifers for supplying "arsenic-free" groundwater under CGWB's National Aquifer Mapping (NAQUIM) programme.

Aquifer is a rock layer which can hold or transmit groundwater.
Bharti cited the examples of digging wells by tapping arsenic-free aquifers at Ballia and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh with the help of modern technology.
"The growing arsenic occurrences demand a systematic translation of success stories of one place to another and formulating a comprehensive plan to mitigate the problem through a wider consultation process," she added.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan and around 300 experts took part in the day-long workshop, the statement said.