Title: Impact and extent of ground water pollution: a case study of rural area in Punjab State (India)

Authors: Sewa Singh; Harwinder Singh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology, Moga 141006, Punjab, India. ' Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana 141006, Punjab, India

Abstract: Pollution has affected not only the natural resources of the planet but ground water also. Present paper is emphasised on study to assess the drinking water quality and its impacts on human health in the rural area of a region in Punjab (India). Samples of ground water from five villages have been tested and it has been found that 65% of samples have excessive fluoride, 100% have excessive turbidity, and 55% have excessive total dissolved solids (TDS). A survey has been conducted to assess the impact of drinking water quality; 300 persons participated in the survey from these five villages. Premature greying of hair, hair fall, typhoid, yellowish teeth, joint pain, diarrhoea, constipation were major diseases prevailing in the region. 88% respondents were found aware about the situation. Significant association has been found between education-awareness and income-awareness using chi square test at 5% level of significance.

Keywords: waterborne diseases; water pollution; human health; drinking water quality; Punjab; fluoride; India; TDS; turbidity; total dissolved solids; groundwater pollution; rural areas; education; income.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENVH.2011.044113

International Journal of Environment and Health, 2011 Vol.5 No.4, pp.277 - 292

Received: 11 Jun 2011
Accepted: 04 Oct 2011

Published online: 09 Dec 2011 *

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