Ganga-Meghna Brahmaputra || West Bengal || Bangladesh || Middle Ganga Plain, Bihar || Uttarpradesh
Jharkhand || North-East Hilly States || Rajnandgaon, Chattisgar || Behala, Kolkata, WB || As toxicity- Homeopathic Treatment
Effectiveness & Reliability - As Field Testing Kits || Utility Of Treatment Plant
Causes, Effects & Remedies - Groundwater As Calamity || References

GROUNDWATER ARSENIC CONTAMINATION IN NORTH EASTERN STATES, INDIA

Reported work done by SOES

ASSAM

From Assam two districts Dhemaji and Karimganj have been surveyed for groundwater arsenic contamination and both are found arsenic contaminated. So far 241 hand tubewells have been analyzed for arsenic from these two districts and 42.3% and 19.1% found above 10 and 50 µg/L respectively (See Table below).

From these two districts 27 villages have been identified where groundwater is above 50 µg/L

A good portion of Assam is in the Brahmaputra Plain so we expect its groundwater arsenic contamination like Bangladesh.

MANIPUR

In January 2004, we detected arsenic contamination in the groundwater of the upper Brahmaputra plain in Assam . We have analyzed 241 hand tubewell water samples from Dhemaji and Karimganj districts of Assam; 42.3% of the samples contained arsenic above 10 µg/L and 19.1% above 50 µg/L. We may also expect groundwater arsenic contamination in these North eastern hill states where the rivers originating from the Himalayas are flowing. Confirming this, in our preliminary survey from Manipur since May 2006, we have found groundwater arsenic contamination in 2 districts, Thoubal, and Imphal. Analyzing a total of 584 water samples from Thoubal and Imphal, we have found 41.27% of them had arsenic concentration above 50 µg/L and 64.72% of the samples had arsenic more than 10 µg/L.(See Table below).

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