Jal village invites PAU scientists to check pollutants in soil, water

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, June 25

In a unique initiative, the village panchayat of Rurka Kalan village on Friday invited scientists from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to study the potential of its village ponds for groundwater recharge and irrigation and to check levels of pollutants in both water and soil. While such initiatives are usually taken by government departments, this is a rare instance of the village panchayat initiating a check to determine the levels of pollutants and carbonates in their water.

A team from PAU, comprising scientist, Department of Soil and Water Engineering, PAU, Dr Sanjay Satpute along with his team member Ankita Shinde, visited the village to study the potential of the village pond for groundwater recharge and irrigation. An experiment on the site was also conducted by the scientists to measure infiltration rate (rate at which water permeates the ground). Samples of soil and pond water were also taken by the scientists to study various parameters like carbonates, Ecoli, Fcoli, pH, Ec, SAR to check how fit the pond water is for irrigation.

Notably, in Rurka Kalan village, there are six ponds, 30 soak pits and two rainwater systems which ensure at least 1 billion litres of water is recharged and reused every year in the village.

Of the six ponds, lift irrigation is already in use at one of the ponds to irrigate fields of farmers in the village. The process to implement the same lift irrigation model on two more village ponds is also on. The village with a population of 9,000 to 10,000 is conserving billions of litres of water-starved Punjab even as a majority of state villages (and cities) waste gallons of water every day. This unique water conservation and recharge system is now being tested for its efficacy by the team. Rurka Kalan was also one of the progressive village panchayats invited from across the country to detail their success story on the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav at the Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi, earlier this year. Lupinder Kumar, Sub-divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Jalandhar, who also facilitated the sampling project, said, “Lift irrigation in the village is a lifeline for the villagers. The gram panchayat is making all-out efforts to ensure water sustainability for its populace. The aim of today’s visit by scientists was to check the efficacy of the lift irrigation project by checking infiltration rate and by checking both water and soil for pollutants. This will help us determine the quality of water and the soil and to determine whether there is any contamination. It will also help us see whether there is a presence of any industrial toxins or other pollutants.” Lupinder Kumar added, “There are nearly 50 lift irrigation pond projects in Jalandhar, but this experiment is a much-needed step in all these projects to check pollution in villages.”