Abstract:
The significant quantity of groundwater is being used for domestic, agricultural, industrial and land-use related activities
in Punjab in last few decades due to the rapid increase in industrialization, population and crop production which has led
to groundwater exploitation. The groundwater is extracted without responsible management as well as without due attention
to the quality issues. Monitoring of water quality is one of the important steps in water resources management. The routine
monitoring of groundwater can assure the populace about the quality of their drinking water and helps in recommending
remedial action to check further deterioration in quality. In many parts of India, fluoride (F-) is one of the most undesired
elements present in underground water extracted for drinking purposes and its presence higher than the prescribed permissible
limit in groundwater significantly affects the human health and may lead to fluorosis, an endemic disease. Prevalence of
fluorosis has been reported mainly due to intake of fluoride rich groundwater over a long period of time. In the present study,
groundwater quality of Bhatinda district in South West Punjab was evaluated from groundwater samples to understand its
hydro-geochemistry with special reference to the salinity and fluoride. The problem of salinity is due to the higher temperature
in summers which increases the evaporation thus salts in soils rise closer to surface causing salinity. The concentration of
F- was found very high and was above permissible limits in about 70% of area and this indicates the risks of dental caries in
the populace of study area. Thus, the present study indicates that regular monitoring of groundwater is an important step to
avoid human health risks and to assess its quality for various ecological purposes. Therefore, proper management practices are
required for sustainable use of groundwater in this agriculture-dominated region.
