Parliament Question: Uranium contamination in water of Delhi and other States

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT & GANGA REJUVENATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3457 ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026 URANIUM CONTAMINATION IN WATER OF DELHI AND OTHER STATES 3457. Dr. LAXMIKANT BAJPAYEE: Will the Minister of Jal Shakti be pleased to state: (a) whether a recent reports has confirmed Uranium contamination in ground and river water of Delhi and other States with many areas exceeding safe limits, making it a serious health concern, if so, the State / UT-wise details of Uranium contamination during the last five years, year-wise; (b) whether the safe limits of Uranium in water used for drinking purpose with details of areas in the country having serious high limits; and (c) the outcome and achievements of the steps taken by the Central Government for improving groundwater quality and mitigate Uranium contamination issue in various States /UTs? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR JAL SHAKTI (SHRI RAJ BHUSHAN CHOUDHARY) (a) & (b) Monitoring of groundwater quality in the country is conducted by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) under this Ministry and respective State Governments on a regular basis. As per the available data, ground water quality in the country remains largely potable but for localized occurrence of certain contaminants in isolated pockets. However, this Ministry has not analyzed river water samples for Uranium contamination. As per the Annual Ground Water Quality Report - 2025, released by CGWB, 3,754 groundwater samples were analyzed in 2024 for Uranium concentration across the country. Out of these, about 6.71% samples were found to have Uranium above the limit of 30 ppb, which is the prescribed maximum permissible limit for drinking purpose as per BIS Standard IS 10500:2012. Further, as per Annual Ground Water Quality Report - 2025, the higher occurrences of Uranium above prescribed limit were observed in isolated pockets of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Moderate contamination occurred in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while most other states showed uranium levels within safe limits. Here, it must be noted that CGWB had introduced a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in 2023 for Groundwater Quality Monitoring, providing for more frequent and denser sampling in vulnerable areas. Therefore, the higher proportion of Uranium-affected samples in some States reflects targeted trend and hot-spot monitoring in vulnerable areas and should not be construed to mean that all 1groundwater sources in those States are affected. Moreover, occurrence of Uranium in groundwater is primarily geogenic and is influenced by local geological and hydrogeological conditions. State/UT-wise and year-wise details of groundwater samples exceeding BIS permissible limits for Uranium are given in the Annexure. (c) ‘Water’ is a State subject and the responsibility of taking initiatives to mitigate ground water contamination and to provide safe drinking water to citizens lies primarily with the State Governments. However, to complement the efforts of the state governments, several steps have been taken by the Central Government to address these issues in the country. Some of the important ones are mentioned below:- i. The ground water quality data generated by CGWB is regularly disseminated through Annual Reports, Half-yearly Bulletins and Fortnightly Alerts for quick action by the stakeholders. ii. CGWB has been taking several initiatives to increase public awareness on ground water contamination issues and prescribing practical solutions for its mitigation. Particularly for Uranium affected areas, CGWB has advocated treatment technologies such as adsorption, coagulation, reverse osmosis and evaporation, depending upon local conditions, cost and effectiveness. iii. Under the National Aquifer Mapping Programme (NAQUIM) of CGWB, while taking up aquifer studies, special attention is being given to the aspect of ground water quality including contamination by toxic substances including Uranium. iv. Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) – Har Ghar Jal, being implemented by this Ministry in partnership with states, marks an important milestone for providing contamination free potable tap water to every rural household of the country in adequate quantity, of prescribed quality and on regular & long- term basis. As on date 15.82 Crore rural households of the country have been provided with functional tap connection under the Scheme as compared to 3.23 Crore at the time of Scheme commencement in August 2019. Following measures have been taken under JJM to facilitate action on water quality aspects at state level :-  Under the JJM, Bureau of Indian Standards’ BIS:10500 standards have been adopted as prescribed norms for quality of tap water service delivery.  While allocating the funds to States/ UTs, 10% weightage is given to the population residing in habitations affected by chemical contaminants. 2 Around 2870 water quality testing laboratories have been set up in the country. Besides this, five persons, preferably women are identified and trained from every village for testing the water samples through Field Test Kits (FTKs).  States/UTs have also been advised to install community water purification plants (CWPPs) as an interim measure, especially in quality affected habitations, to provide potable drinking water to every household. v. Improvement in ground water quality can also be achieved to some extent by taking up artificial recharge of aquifers, which dilutes the contaminants to bring them under permissible limits. Accordingly, Ministry of Jal Shakti and other central ministries are implementing several programmes towards this end like the annual Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) campaign, Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari (JSJB) initiative, Mission Amrit Sarovar, MGNREGS etc. Under the Mission mode campaign of JSA, so far, more than 2 Crore water conservation and artificial recharge works have been taken up throughout the country and under the community led efforts of JSJB, more than 46 lakh low cost and locally suited rain water harvesting and artificial recharge structures have come up. vi. The ground water pollution also owes its origin to contamination of surface water sources for which various efforts have been made in the country like installing Sewage Treatment Plants, Effluent Treatment Plants and better system of sewage networks etc. Under National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the government has initiated several steps for improving the water quality along the river Ganga and its tributaries and for other rivers, the same is being done through the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). *** 3ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3457 TO BE ANSWERED IN RAJYA SABHA ON 23.03.2026 REGARDING “URANIUM CONTAMINATION IN WATER OF DELHI AND OTHER STATES”. State/UT-wise and Year-wise Details (2019, 2022, 2023 & 2024) of Groundwater Samples Analysed for Uranium and % of Samples Exceeding BIS Limit (U > 30 ppb) 2019 2022 2023 2024 % of % of % of No. of % of No. of No. of Samples No. of Samples S.No. State Samples Samples Samples Samples Samples Having Samples Having Having U Having U U analyzed U> 30 U analyzed U> 30 U> 30 ppb analyzed U> 30 ppb analyzed ppb ppb Andaman & 1 Nicobar 95 0 110 0 - - 27 0 Islands Andhra 2 588 4.9 - - - - - - Pradesh Arunachal 3 19 0 17 0 12 0 15 0 Pradesh 4 Assam 204 0 161 0 155 0 154 0 5 Bihar 607 1.8 472 4.87 752 0.1 13 0 Chandigarh 6 10 0 1 0 8 0 8 0 UT 7 Chhattisgarh 917 1.3 592 0.17 783 0.6 257 1.56 8 Delhi 60 11.7 - - 103 10.7 83 13.25 Dadra And Nagar 9 Haveli and 12 0 14 0 - - - - Daman and Diu 10 Goa 66 0 54 0 6 0 6 0 11 Gujarat 543 0.9 395 0.51 0 0 126 2.38 12 Haryana 450 19.6 454 18.5 857 18.7 160 15 Himachal 13 122 0.8 - - - - - - Pradesh Jammu & 14 314 0 273 0 250 0 17 5.88 Kashmir 15 Jharkhand 397 1.5 248 1.21 342 0 - - 16 Karnataka 737 2 579 6.74 125 4.8 118 8.47 17 Kerala 423 0 320 0 342 0 185 0 Madhya 18 1182 1.4 1136 0.97 1064 0.5 51 0 Pradesh 19 Maharashtra 1073 0.3 1358 0.44 1567 0.2 331 0.6 20 Meghalaya 39 0 33 0 39 0 38 0 21 Manipur - - - - - - 3 0 22 Mizoram - - - - 3 0 - - 23 Nagaland 8 0 8 0 6 0 66 0 424 Odisha 1114 0.4 - - 904 0.3 413 0.24 25 Pondicherry - - 16 0 4 0 7 0 26 Punjab 302 24.2 323 33.75 908 32.6 296 53.04 27 Rajasthan 671 7.2 - - 627 21.2 100 5 28 Tamil Nadu 1208 1.6 1173 3.15 915 2.3 286 1.75 29 Telangana 345 10.4 - - - - - - 30 Tripura 82 0 67 0 81 0 44 0 Uttar 31 824 4.4 - - 1386 8.3 612 4.74 Pradesh 32 Uttarakhand 186 0 - - 206 0.5 103 0 West 33 849 0.1 729 0 - - 235 0 Bengal Grand 13447 3.04 8533 3.7 11445 6.6 3754 6.71 Total *Out of 36 States, Ground water Quality data is collected only from 33 States. Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Sikkim did not have Ground Water Monitoring Stations of CGWB during the year mentioned above. (-) Indicates no samples for uranium analysis were collected in the given States/UTs for that year ***** 5