Groundwater uranium level 20 times higher than normal in Bathinda village

In a startling revelation, a study has found the absorption of uranium in groundwater at a Bathinda village 20 times more than the permissible limit also, the research work has accredited the high absorption of dissolved uranium in groundwater to high salinity, alkaline and total dissolved solids (TDS) in the upper layer of the groundwater in the Malwa belt.

Conducted jointly by eight scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, the research says the absorption of uranium at Karamgarh Satran village (Bathinda) had been measured at 644 µg/L (parts per billion), the allowed limit, as per the Environment Protection Agency of USA’s guidelines, is 30 µg/L, meaning the absorption at the village is 20 times higher.

Besides, the average absorption was found to be 99.96 µg/L, about three times higher than the normal.Karamgarh Satran is followed by Dhillawan (463.6 µg/L), Giana (292.65 µg/L) and Gudda (165.85 µg/L) villages of Bathinda the research paper, “Geochemical modelling of uranium speciation in the subsurface aquatic environment of Punjab”, observed that mainly of the groundwater in southern-west Malwa region was strongly alkaline, highly saline and had high TDS and ionic strength, thereby rising the solubility of uranium in water.