Summary:
The Minister informed the House that the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) carried out a study to ascertain the groundwater quality in and around SIPCOT. “The study indicates that most of the groundwater samples are contaminated with high TDS and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, iron and arsenic, which are beyond permissible limits of BIS Standards for drinking water (IS:10500 of 2012),” he said. He was replying to a question by AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP Sasikala Pushpa, who sought to know if the government had initiated any steps to check the nature of groundwater in Thoothukudi following the agitation against Sterlite and if water had been contaminated due to pollution from Sterlite. more-inCHENNAIThe Centre on Monday said the ground water in and around SIPCOT industrial area in Thoothukudi where Sterlite’s factory is located was contaminated with high TDS and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, chromium, manganese, iron and arsenic, which were beyond permissible limits of BIS Standards for drinking water. “As per information received from the Central Pollution Control Board, the analysis of groundwater samples, from Sterlite industrial unit, by the State Pollution Control Board shows the presence of iron, lead, fluoride, cadmium and nickel more than the permissible limit of BIS,” Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, informed the Rajya Sabha..