Excessive use of fertilisers for agriculture has rendered as many as 3,030 drinking water sources polluted above acceptable levels in Pune district, revealed a study by the State Public Health Laboratory. According to the study, water sources in Daund, Baramati, Indapur, Shirur and Haveli that have higher percentage of area under sugarcane cultivation have shown higher pollution levels in water sources.
“As part of a Central government project, we had undertaken a drive to check for the potability of drinking water available to villages and hamlets in the district. Water sources from as many as 1,407 villages were studied under the project. We collected and tested 10,303 samples from the sources, of which 3,033 sources were detected with higher-than-desirable levels of dissolved nitrate and fluoride ,” said an SPHL official.
In addition, 136 resources had lower than normal levels of iron and 40 were polluted with fluoride.
Excessive nitrate content in water can lead to formation of stones in kidney. Higher proportion of dissolved fluoride can cause skeletal fluorosis in which bones become brittle. Deficiency of iron can lead to several intestinal complications.
As per the reports, Shirur taluka leads the district in number of contaminated water sources at 607, followed by Daund with 596 and Indapur at 551. According to the study, Velha and Mulshi taluka do not have any source polluted above acceptable level.
