Chandigarh: A severe contamination crisis is crippling the water security of north India’s heartland, with a new national assessment revealing that 62.50% of groundwater samples in Punjab exceeded the safe limit for uranium following the monsoon, the highest contamination intensity recorded across the country.The Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2025 by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), ministry of jal shakti, places Punjab and Haryana among the states most critically affected by multiple pollutants, including heavy metals and widespread agricultural run-off.
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The report highlighted that uranium concentrations exceeding the safe limit of 30 ppb were detected sporadically in Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Rajasthan. Although uranium contamination was not widespread at the national scale, the highest intensity was recorded in Punjab, where 53.04% of samples exceeded the permissible limit before the monsoon and 62.50% afterwards, indicating further concentration after rainfall recharge rather than dilution. Haryana also reported significant levels, with 15% of pre-monsoon and 23.75% of post-monsoon samples above the limit, followed by Delhi, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. The report recorded persistent problems related to fluoride and nitrate, both linked to serious public health effects. Fluoride levels exceeding 1.5 mg/L were detected in 41.06% of samples in Rajasthan, 21.82% in Haryana, and 11.24% in Punjab, while the national exceedance stood at 8.05%. Elevated nitrate remained one of the most widespread contaminants. The national exceedance was 20.71%, with the highest levels in Rajasthan (50.54%), Karnataka (45.47%), and Tamil Nadu (36.27%), followed by Punjab (14.68%) and Haryana (14.18%). The report attributed nitrate contamination largely to agricultural fertiliser misuse, animal waste infiltration, and sewage leakage, especially in rural and peri-urban zones. Arsenic contamination, though geographically restricted, continued to pose a serious health hazard in the Indo-Gangetic alluvial belt, with major contributions from West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Assam. Punjab reported 9.1% pre-monsoon and 9.5% post-monsoon exceedance, placing it among the significant contributors despite wide variations between districts. Eastern coastal and peninsular states largely showed negligible levels. About Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) — an index that determines whether irrigation water can damage soil structure and long-term land productivity — 11.27% of groundwater samples nationally exceeded the permissible limit of 2.5 meq/L, indicating sodicity hazards in several regions. Delhi (51.11%), Uttarakhand (41.94%), Andhra Pradesh (26.87%), Punjab (24.60%), and Rajasthan (24.42%) recorded the highest incidences of unsafe RSC levels, while Haryana (15.54%), Karnataka (13.32%), Uttar Pradesh (13.65%), and Telangana (11.76%) also showed moderate occurrences. High-RSC irrigation water could lead to alkalinity buildup, soil degradation, and declining crop yields if left unmanaged. Electrical Conductivity (EC), a marker of water salinity, also revealed clear regional hotspots. Rajasthan (47.12%), Delhi (33.33%), Haryana (20.59%), and Gujarat (18.28%) recorded the highest percentages of samples above the BIS permissible limit of 3000 µS/cm. Punjab recorded 7.01% of samples above the limit, which was lower than neighbouring Haryana but still significant given the state’s dependence on groundwater for drinking and agriculture. Excessive saline water not only affected potability but also reduced agricultural productivity and could trigger long-term soil salinisation. Hydrochemical analysis further showed that Na-HCO₃ (sodium–bicarbonate) groundwater facies, often associated with ion exchange and alkali enrichment, was moderately represented across India but dominated in Punjab (39.6%), Haryana (28.1%), and Andhra Pradesh (26.7%), indicating characteristic aquifer evolution in these regions. Uranium contamination: Recommended remedial measures Experts noted that no single technology can address uranium-contaminated groundwater in every setting, and the choice of treatment must depend on groundwater chemistry, concentration levels, cost, and scale of supply. Among available options, adsorption offers high removal efficiency but is relatively expensive. The coagulation–filtration process is simpler and comparatively economical, although the treated water may not always meet drinking-water standards without an additional stage. A hybrid coagulation-plus-adsorption system can achieve up to about 99% uranium removal, making it suitable where stringent effluent quality is necessary. Chemical extraction can reduce uranium in treated water to below 0.05 mg/L, but generate large volumes of sludge that require careful handling. Reverse osmosis (RO) is widely regarded as one of the most effective methods for producing drinking-safe water, but the high installation and operational costs limit its feasibility for rural or community-scale systems. The evaporation–distillation approach also yields high removal efficiency but is costly and leaves behind concentrated residue that must be treated as hazardous waste. In addition, bioremediation using selected plants and microorganisms offers an environmentally friendly option, although its effectiveness depends on site-specific conditions and typically requires a longer treatment period. Contamination Hotspots STATE | Samples* | Uranium >30 ppb Pre-m | Uranium >30 ppb Post M | % Pre-M | % of Post-M Punjab | 296 | 157 | 185 | 53.04 | 62.50 Haryana | 160 | 24 | 38 | 15 | 23.75 Delhi | 83 | 11 | 13 | 13.25 | 15.66 ALL India | 3,754 | 252 | 297 | 6.71 | 7.91 (Analysed in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon; pre-m: Pre-monsoon; post-m: Post-monsoon) STATE | Samples | Above permissible Limit (Fluoride >1.5 mg/L) | % Rajasthan | 643 | 264 | 41.06 Haryana | 811 | 177 | 21.82 NCT of Delhi | 135 | 24 | 17.78 Telangana | 1114 | 167 | 14.99 Punjab | 756 | 85 | 11.24 Himachal Pradesh | 161 | 2 | 1.24 ALL India | 14,978 | 1205 | 8.05 STATE | Samples | Above Permissible Limit (Nitrate >45 mg/L) | % Rajasthan | 643 | 325 | 50.54 Karnataka | 398 | 181 | 45.47 Tamil Nadu | 929 | 337 | 36.27 Punjab | 756 | 111 | 14.68 Haryana | 811 | 115 | 14.18 Himachal Pradesh | 161 | 19 | 11.80 ALL INDIA | 14,978 | 3102 | 20.71 MSID:: 125563140 413 |