Indo-Pak study reveals extensive arsenic problem in Punjab groundwater
A new survey has shown that there is a major problem of arsenic contamination of groundwater in flood plains of Ravi river on both sides of the India-Pakistan border.
The study covered 30,567 wells in 383 villages dotting along both sides of the border and it found that as much as 23 per cent of them had arsenic content higher than the limit set by the World Health Organisation. The problem appeared to be more severe on the Indian side.
The researchers tested water samples from 13,000 wells from 199 villages on the Indian side and 17,567 wells from 184 villages on the Pakistan side. But the proportion of wells with higher level of arsenic was more in the Indian villages at 25 per cent. Water samples were tested using a portable field kit. Later a set of sub-samples was also tested in...