NEWS

Source:The Tribune, Chandigarh, April, 2017 :- What should set the alarm bells ringing for the state government is the increasing presence of uranium in the sub-soil water used for drinking and irrigation. The average value of uranium in sub-soil water is 115 parts per billion (ppb) in the state. This means that the cancer risk of the entire state is 3.3 per 10,000 persons, said nuclear physicist Dr Hardev Singh Virk. The average value of uranium is in the range of 2,109 ppb to 2,277 ppb in certain pockets of Hoshiarpur district against the permissible limit of 60 ppb or microgram per litre set by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and 15 ppb limit set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Dr Virk said his findings suggested that groundwater in more than one-third of the state was unfit for drinking if one was to go by the standards fixed by the WHO with regard to the presence of heavy metals in water.

Read More: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/toxic-metals-in-water-should-make-govt-sit-up-says-nuclear-physicist/389750.html