Industries Polluting Drinking Water

Industries in Ludhiana are proving a bane for residents of lower
Punjab. Residents in Faridkot, Muktsar and Abohar areas are claim that
large number of industrial units in Ludhiana are responsible for
poisoning the water they are using.
Though the quality and supply of drinking water in the region was
always problematic, in the last two weeks the problem aggravated after
some canals were closed. It is alleged that these industrial units
discharge waste, effluents, including lethal heavy metals like lead,
nickel, cadmium and chromium into the Budda Nullah.
The domestic sewerage of Ludhiana also makes its way into Budda Nullah,
which is a tributary of Sutlej river, and Sirhind feeder gets its
supply of water from Sutlej. Sources earlier revealed that the
pollutant discharge of Budda Nullah was shared by many canals including
the Ferozepur Feeder, Rajasthan Feeder, Gang Canal and Sirhind Feeder
at Hari Ke Head, but as all these canals (expect Sirhind Feeder) are
closed for some maintenance work, the polluted water is flowing into
the Sirhind Feeder alone.
Besides these canals there is no other source of drinking water in this
area as the groundwater here is not fit for human consumption due to
high fluoride content. Vinod Chaudhary, superintending engineer (SE),
Sirhind Feeder, assured an early solution, but residents claim such
assurances have been a routine thing.