4-Ground Water Pollution in Urban Areas and its Effect on Ground Water Regime.

Abstract

The causes and nature of various inorganic, organic and metallic constituents of ..tells in major cities in India were investigated in a detailed industrialisation and urbanisation study. The inorganic, organic and heavy metal constituents including colour unit frequently exceeded the WHO/BIS standards for drinking water. Groundwater chemical constituents were measured over a field season programme in monitoring wells placed strategically in relation to city wastes drainage, industrial drains and spread. Results indicate that rapid urbanisation and industrialisation are major source of the inorganic, organic and heavy metals in the groundwater and the inputs are markedly dependent on wet drains resulting in surge of the chemical constituents into the groundwater. Pollution of groundwater due to urbanisation and industrialisation were investigated in Pali, Jodhpur and Kota towns in Rajasthan; Ranipeth, Amber and Vaniyambadi towns in North-Arcot-Ambedkar district in Tamil Nadu; Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Mathura, and Agra in UP, Nagpur in Maharastra, and Chaliyar river banks in Kerala. The types of pollutants generally encountered are biological, toxic metals, and chemical compounds of health hazards. Case histories are illustrated from Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Bhopal and Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh and Ludhiana in Punjab.