Arsenic groundwater contamination related socio-economic problems in India: Issues and challenges

Abstract

Water is increasingly becoming a scarce resource, both in terms of quantity as well as quality. Due to increasing population growth, urbanization and rapid industrialization, surface water and groundwater in many places have become scarce resources. Over the years, excess exploitation of both groundwater and surface water resources has caused serious problems in water pollution, as almost 70 per cent of total surface water resources and growing percentages of groundwater are contaminated by biological, toxic, organic and inorganic pollutants (Ministry of water resources 2000).