MPCB Finds 45 mg/L Chromium in Dattanagar Groundwater Near Ambad MIDC; 17 Electroplating Units Get Closure Notices

Update, 14 October: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has now reported its own results. It found total chromium of 45 ppm (45 mg/L) in two groundwater samples from borewells and dug wells at Dattanagar near Ambad MIDC, the Times of India reported on 13 October. The permissible limit is 0.05 ppm, so this is about 900 times the limit.

What MPCB found and did

• 45 mg/L total chromium in two groundwater samples from Dattanagar borewells and dug wells (MPCB report, as reported by TOI).
• The Print reported that MPCB's lab report was released on 11 October and also found high sulphate and chloride levels. MPCB's regional officer told The Print that samples from three more borewells have been sent for testing.
• MPCB has issued closure notices to 17 electroplating units and ordered their power and water supply disconnected. Proposed directions have been issued to 5 more units.
• An MPCB official told TOI that yellowish contaminated water has so far been found in a pocket of about half a kilometre in Dattanagar, and borewells upstream and downstream of it have largely yielded clear water.
• Around 89 units at Ambad MIDC do electroplating, galvanising, phosphating or powder coating, according to TOI.
• The Nashik Municipal Corporation has sealed a few borewells in Dattanagar so residents do not use the water, according to activist Roshan Kedar, quoted by The Print.

The earlier private lab test

• The Indian Express reported on 13 October that a private lab, Ashwamedh Engineers and Consultants, tested samples on 3 October from the Nandini river near Ambad MIDC. The Nandini flows into the Godavari.
• That test found total chromium 50.5 mg/L, of which 50.3 mg/L was hexavalent. The BIS drinking-water limit is 0.05 mg/L.
• The samples were collected by activist Rajesh Pandit and SANDRP's Parineeta Dandekar.

Two different tests

The two results are not the same measurement. The private lab reported 50.5 mg/L total and 50.3 mg/L hexavalent chromium on samples collected by activists. MPCB reported 45 mg/L total chromium in Dattanagar groundwater. We report both as published.

Government response

Minister Girish Mahajan visited the area on Thursday. An official from Environment Minister Pankaja Munde's office said she had directed MPCB to take immediate action against polluting industries.

None of these results are for water at the Godavari bathing ghats. See our earlier report on samples taken for the High Court case.