Chhattisgarh ground water depleting, threat of contamination

RAIPUR: Groundwater level is depleting fast in Chhattisgarh and there has been a significant increase in chemical contamination of fluoride, arsenic, iron, mostly in southern parts, and other heavy metals at many places in the state.


The problems pertaining to ground water depletion and its contamination was at the focus at a workshop on “Groundwater management in Chhattisgarh: A step towards people’s participation”, organised by Central Ground Water Board , North-Central Chhattisgarh region.

Speaking at the workshop, state Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) Engineer-in-Chief TG Kosaria said that during the monitoring works of groundwater conducted by the department in the peak month of July it was found that the groundwater table in many parts of the state is gradually decreasing with each passing year.

Besides, the groundwater level has failed to reach its optimum level as before in the past few years. In every rainy season, the level of groundwater in the state is about 5 to 6 meters below ground level and about 50-60 meters below ground level in the central parts of the state during summers.

Speaking about the causes of frequent decline in the groundwater level in Chhattisgarh, Kosaria said that the main reason behind this is the increase in population and insufficient rainfall. In the past few years there has been uneven rainfall which results in a decrease in rainy days and therefore less water is available for groundwater recharge.

For proper conservation and management of groundwater, it is very important to ensure groundwater recharging. We will surely achieve success if a proper scientific way is applied for the conservation and management of groundwater, he said.

Kosaria informed that previously the quality of groundwater in the state was very good but now traces of fluoride in groundwater are being found in many parts of the state. Similarly, chemical contamination of arsenic, iron, and possibility of other heavy metals has also been increased resulting in deterioration in the quality of groundwater.

As per a report from Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), fluoride above 1.5mg/l is found in the groundwater of regions including Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Janjgir-Champa, Jashpur, Kanker, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, and Surguja. Similarly, Iron (above 1.0mg/l) is found in southern parts of the state including Bastar, Dantewada, Kanker, and Koriya. While other heavy metals including lead, cadmium, and chromium are found in Korba district.

As per information from official sources, according to groundwater resource assessment of the Chhattisgarh out of total 146 blocks one block falls under over exploited category, as many as 18 blocks falls under ‘semi-critical’ category, two blocks under ‘critical’ category and 125 blocks under ‘safe’ category.

Chairman of CGWB KC Naik said “ We always talk about development of groundwater but in today’s scenario there is no scope of further development, it’s time for management of groundwater”.

He said the farmers and locals, who are the ultimate stakeholders and users of groundwater are not aware of any necessary information released by the department. Therefore, there is an immense need to convey such information to the farmers in their language. Another problem of groundwater is that it is a hidden resource and hence very difficult to manage.