Summary:
The fresh survey, which has found mercury contamination in the water of hand pumps and bore wells, only mean two things. The special committee, which carried out the survey, was formed four months ago after the NGO brought up the matter of ground water pollution.Interestingly, hundreds of hand pumps were sealed in 2016 for drawing contaminated water. Either the state government followed the order properly in 2016, but the ground water pollution is so rampant that even the new hand pumps also got affected. The petition filed by the NGO claimed that several pumps and tube wells in west UP were still releasing water contaminated with mercury. The Jal Nigam had to face the NGT’s ire for its failure to comply with the 2015 order.However, in spite of flagging and sealing of the hand pumps for releasing contaminated water, the menace did not end there..