GUWAHATI, June 29 – Unofficial sources claim that there are indications of presence of arsenic in the ground water of Mankachar areas bordering Bangladesh in Dhubri district. Samples of the ground water from some suspected areas were sent for testing to Jadavpur University early this year. But, sources in the State PHED have denied having any knowledge of the development. As, they claimed, the Kolkata-based University had not sent any formal report so far on its findings.
The university has also not made any formal communication on its findings on the Dhemaji and Karimganj water samples, said the PHED sources. The School of Environmental Studies of Jadavpur University had in March last, stated that of the samples of ground water it tested from 56 villages under two development blocks of the two districts of Dhemaji and Karimganj, 2.1 per cent was found to be containing more than 300 ?g of arsenic per litre of water. Of the samples, 19.1 per cent was found to be containing more than 50 ?g of the highly toxic chemical per litre of water and 42.3 per cent was found to be containing more than 10 ?g of the chemical per litre of water, said the report of the University.
PHED sources here claimed that the Department had in February, sent 20 samples from Dhemaji district to BE college, Shivpur, West Bengal. The samples were sent to the college through the UNICEF. The college sent its report on the samples in April. Three of the samples were found to be containing high amount of arsenic, the PHED sources said. Presence of arsenic in the ground water in some Bangladesh and West Bengal areas bordering Assam, initially made the experts doubt that similar toxic chemicals might also be present in the ground water of some areas in Karimganj and Dhubri districts of the State. Dhemaji areas were then brought under consideration in this connection because of the district’s location in the meandering belt of the Brahmaputra, unofficial sources said.
The Brahmaputra is known in Bangladesh as Meghna. Presence of arsenic in the ground water of Ganga-Meghna-Brahmaputra plains was what made the experts willing for scanning every ground water sample from any part of the Brahmaputra Valley. This was more so in the areas wherever the river has a meandering belt, said the unofficial sources. How significant is this meandering belt phenomenon in this respect? Unofficial sources said that in such a belt, the river used to deposit sediments. Generally, such areas experience many metal deposits, some of which are highly toxic, like arsenic. Bangladesh has however, one additional factor contributing to the presence of arsenic in the ground water of some of its areas. This is, the sources said, the extensive use of pesticide in agricultural activities.
The areas of Karimganj and Dhubri districts of the State bordering Bangladesh were natural suspects in this respect, because of their similar geo-physical locations with the arsenic-affected areas of Bangladesh, said the sources. Meanwhile, the State PHED has started marking the arsenic contaminated ground water sources in Dhemaji and Karimganj districts as containing water unfit for cooking and drinking purposes. Work in this direction started early this month. Steps are also initiated to collect more ground water samples from Dhemaji district and its neighbouring Majuli river island in Jorhat district for ascertaining arsenic contamination, said the PHED sources.
But, the unofficial sources alleged that the State Government was sitting idle on the issue. No doubt, the State PHED has written letters to the field staff on the issue. But, the letters are simply ambiguous. There is no effort made so far for testing the ground water samples from these three districts. The department has no proper laboratory facility capable of testing arsenic contamination of ground water. The Department has 23 district-level laboratories. Only four to six of them are functioning now. Even these laboratories are functioning partially. None of these laboratories is equipped to test arsenic contamination of water.
Compared to this situation in the State, West Bengal has nearly two dozen rural laboratories equipped with sophisticated instruments for detection of arsenic and these are all functioning teaming up with the PHED. The PHED of the neighbouring state has many other established laboratories in different parts of that state. These laboratories have been regularly testing water samples for determining contamination of various natures, including the one caused by arsenic, said the unofficial sources. The Assam PHED gets around Rs 50 crore a year as Central assistance and the annual expenditure of the department is around Rs 100 crore. By spending a small fraction of these amounts it can make its laboratories functional with all inputs of men and materials. It must be kept in mind that the department was created with the aim of supplying safe drinking water to the people of the State, said the unofficial sources.
Meanwhile, various agencies in the State, like the DRDA, the panchayats and the other local-self governing bodies are providing spot water sources like tube wells and ring wells, without caring for the quality of water. This has again made a mockery of the safe drinking water scheme in the State, said the unofficial sources.