The toxic element was detected in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, and Sonitpur. Additionally, Cachar district in southern Assam recorded anomalous arsenic levels (As >10 ppb) in certain locations
GUWAHATI: Seven districts in Assam have been found to have arsenic contamination in groundwater, while 17 districts face iron contamination beyond permissible limits. This was revealed in the recently published Annual Ground Water Quality Report 2024 by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
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The report highlighted that while Assam and most northeastern states remain unaffected by contamination from ions like chloride, fluoride, and nitrate, arsenic contamination remains a topic of concern in the state.
The toxic element was detected in the districts of Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Sibsagar, and Sonitpur. Additionally, Cachar district in southern Assam recorded anomalous arsenic levels (As >10 ppb) in certain locations.
The report further warned of severe health risks, stating that prolonged intake of inorganic arsenic through drinking water leads to arsenicosis, characterised by skin lesions, pigmentation, and patches on the hands and feet. Long-term exposure can also result in fatal diseases like skin and internal cancers, along with cardiovascular and diabetic complications.
Nationally, arsenic contamination has also been reported in the floodplains of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, particularly in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Manipur, as well as in regions of Punjab and Chhattisgarh.
Iron contamination, meanwhile, exceeded the permissible limit of 1.0 mg/L set by the BIS standard in 17 districts of Assam. These include Baksa, Bongaigaon, Cachar, Dhemaji, Golaghat, Hailakandi, Jorhat, Kamrup, and Tinsukia, among others. Similar contamination was observed in five districts each in Meghalaya and Tripura and two in Arunachal Pradesh.
The report explained that excessive iron concentration in groundwater is primarily caused by weathering of ferruginous minerals in igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks. Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills and Tripura’s North Tripura are among the most affected districts.