Times of India  21.10.2010

PANAJI: Barring a few cases of contamination in Polem and Baga, Goa's ground water is good for drinking and other purposes. Many rivers, however, especially in the south, are impacted by slight pollution from dumping and other wastes, scientists participating at a workshop at Miramar said on Wednesday.

Bangalore-based Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) scientist K Raja Rajan said water from 38 open wells was sampled in a chemical laboratory in May 2010 by the board in a bid to trace pollutants, especially organic ones and heavy metals. "Most samples indicated a reading of less than 500 microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius for electrical conductivity (EC), indicating it is free of contamination," Rajan said. For this reason, only a few samples were further tested for all 14 parameters. "The readings of these, too, showed that ground water quality is good for drinking and other purposes," Rajan added.

CGWB had organized the workshop on water use and quality criteria under hydrology project–II to raise awareness among state government departments, including agriculture, public works, water resources and others. "Four of these important parameters to analyze ground water contamination—namely nitrates, fluoride, EC and pH—also indicated readings well within permissible limits," Rajan said. The EC test of water samples shows how pure or impure it is, as the conductivity of water is lower if it is pure.

While pH (a scale to measure acidity) of 6 to 8 is considered permissible, Polem's ground water was slightly on the higher side as samples indicated water quality of 8.2, Rajan said. "It is okay for drinking purposes, but compared to other samples this was the maximum value recorded," he said.

The highest concentration of EC was found in Baga. "While EC of 250 up to 500 is okay, it was 1,660, while the nitrates were just below permissible level," Rajan said. "The water sampled from a well near a bar at Baga beach looked like the colour of wine," he said.