{"id":70580,"date":"2024-01-01T22:22:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-01T16:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=70580"},"modified":"2025-03-03T12:11:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T06:41:49","slug":"arsenic-and-fluoride-in-groundwater","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/arsenic-and-fluoride-in-groundwater","title":{"rendered":"Arsenic and Fluoride In Groundwater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, the <\/span><b>National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to 24 states and 4 Union Territories regarding the presence of arsenic and fluoride in groundwater.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\"><b>NGT&#8217;s Suo Motu Action: Arsenic and Fluoride in Groundwater<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The panel was hearing a matter in which it had taken suo motu (on its own) cognisance of a media report that highlighted the presence of arsenic and fluoride beyond permissible limits in groundwater in some pockets of various states and Union Territories.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The report stated that arsenic was detected in groundwater in parts of 230 districts across 25 states while fluoride was found in some pockets of 469 districts in 27 states, the tribunal noted in a recent order.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Observations Made by the Panel<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Presence of Metals in Groundwater: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A bench of Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member A Senthil Vel said the Central Ground Water Authority had submitted a report in which it admitted the presence of arsenic and fluoride in the districts and the states.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Negligence by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA): <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The CGWA is responsible for regulating groundwater but did not take any independent steps on the grounds that water is a state subject.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\"><b>About Arsenic<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Presence:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is a highly toxic element naturally present in the environment and in the earth crust and groundwater of a number of countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Concerns:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Arsenic\u2019s long-term exposure from drinking-water and food can cause cancer, skin disease, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Permissible Limit:<\/b> <b>World Health Organisation\u2019s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> provisional guideline value for<\/span><b> arsenic in drinking water &#8211; 0.01 mg\/l (10 \u03bcg\/l) and permissible limit of arsenic in India in absence of an alternative source &#8211; 0.05 mg\/l (50 \u03bcg\/l).<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\"><b>About Fluoride<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Presence: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Soil, water, plants, and foods contain trace amounts of fluoride. Most of the fluoride that people consume comes from fluoridated water, foods and beverages prepared with fluoridated water, and toothpaste and other dental products containing fluoride.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Toxicity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It is highly toxic. Death may result from ingesting as little as 2 g of fluoride in an adult and 16 mg\/kg in children.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Concerns:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Prolonged fluoride consumption in higher concentrations in drinking water can cause dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis, kidney diseases and arthritis.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Permissible Limit:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> According to WHO 1984 and Indian standard drinking water specification 1991 the maximum permissible limit of fluoride in drinking water is 1.5 ppm and highest desirable limit is 1.0 ppm.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"width: 100.301%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Fluoride Remediation Using Biochars<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Renewable biochar produced from rice husk biomass has the potential to absorb fluoride pollutants from groundwater.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Fluoride remediation using biochars showed significant removal at neutral pH.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #000000;\">Biochar-mediated sand columns can be used for defluoridation in hand pumps and tube wells.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\"><b>About the Central Ground Water Authority<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Establishment: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was <\/span><b>established in 1970 <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by renaming the Exploratory Tubewells Organization under the Ministry of Agriculture and later on merged with the Groundwater Wing of the Geological Survey of India during 1972.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Mandate: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the <\/span><b>National Apex Agency<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> entrusted with the responsibilities of providing scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of groundwater resources of the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\"><b>About NGT<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a specialized judicial body established under the <\/span><b>National Green Tribunal Act, 2010.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its<\/span><b> primary purpose<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to handle cases related to<\/span><b> environmental issues and disputes.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has<\/span><b> jurisdiction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over matters concerning the enforcement of environmental laws, conservation of natural resources, and the prevention and control of environmental pollution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Tribunal is not bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be<\/span><b> guided by principles of natural justice.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It <\/span><b>comprises three major bodies: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Chairperson, the Judicial Members, and the Expert Members.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All these NGT Members are required to <\/span><b>hold the office for five years <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and are <\/span><b>not eligible for reappointment.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b><i>Must Read: <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/groundwater-resource-assessment-report-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dynamic Groundwater Resource Assessment Report 2023<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b><i>News Source: <\/i><\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/india-news\/arsenic-and-fluoride-in-groundwater-ngt-issues-notices-to-24-states-4-uts-123122600815_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><b><i>Business Standard<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NGT has issued notices to 24 states and 4 Union Territories regarding the presence of arsenic and fluoride in groundwater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[2084],"subject":[2124],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/70580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70580"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/70580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70901,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/70580\/revisions\/70901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70580"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=70580"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=70580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}