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Officials' failure comes to light

Researchers observed that high concentrations of heavy metals clearly indicate that the source of contamination was not a natural reason.

Hyderabad: The failure of Hyderabad's urban development bodies and Telangana State Pollution Control Board in ensuring control of domestic waste, industrial waste and pollution is exposed in yet another study, this time conducted in and around the Nacharam industrial area by research scholars headed by Prof. B. Venkateswara Rao from the Centre for Water Resources of JNTU Hyderabad.

The researchers found presence of heavy metals like arsenic, rubidium, barium, molybdenum, chromium, zirconium, aluminum and even lead in high levels in soil and groundwater of the region, whereas their presence in surface water was less.

Heavy metals get accumulated in the soil due to dumping of industrial effluents and domestic waste, and during monsoon these heavy metals reach the groundwater along with rain water.

Heavy metals also travel to nearby water bodies through surface runoff from the contaminated soil, and due to their heavy nature they slowly settle down on the lake bed, and further mixes with the groundwater.

Researchers observed that high concentrations of heavy metals clearly indicate that the source of contamination was not a natural reason like the host rock (granite) but due to man-made causes like industrial waste, agricultural waste and domestic waste being dumped.

The researchers took surface water samples from Peddacheruvu lake in Nacharam and took soil and groundwater samples from areas located around the lake. Approximate-ly 100 industrial units including chemical were located there.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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