KOCHI : Increasing presence of pesticides in groundwater has forced experts to press the alarm button for a unique water caring policy in the State.

V. Sivanandan Achari, a faculty member of School of Environmental Studies in Cochin University of Science and Technology, who spearhead a recent research on water quality assessment in the tsunami-affected coastal areas of Kerala, cites his Amsterdam experience to elaborate the salient features of the water caring policy.

"Most of the drinking water requirement in the city of Amsterdam is met from the surface water drawn from Rhine canal diluted with equal quantity of ground water drawn from sand dunes. To control the extra dissolved organic compounds (DOCs) addition to Rhine canal water from the watershed area, local farmers are advised to restrain from farming practices that affect the quality of canal water. In turn, these farmers are beneficiaries of "water caring" policy of the corporation in the form of subsidy and other privileges".

Local residents are also provided with similar benefits from Government and local bodies for their special care in checking spillage of oil/grease crude into their domestic yard.

Special carpets are used to avoid direct spread in the ground. Even then the content of DOCs in raw water procured from Rhine canal is high to process in the Veesperkaaspal plant of Amsterdam water supply industry, he said.

"Discussion on the quality of bottled drinking water is a matter of concern these days. Dissolved contents identified in drinking water pet bottles can cause irreparable damage to human health. Farmers have been spraying chemicals to ward off pests. These chemicals, which belong to the class of Benzene Hexa Chloride and Penta Chloro Phenol, get slowly filtered into water reserves. Experts identify gross amount of these compounds as dissolved organic compounds. It is very difficult to remove these micro pollutants from water", he said.

Dr. Achari said that water experts in the developed countries were unable to control the DOC value to the limit of projected safe level of 2.0mg/litre. Urging authorities to act quickly against water pollution, Dr.Achari said the Government should introduce a long-term plan of action to quantify the DOC content of water resources available in the country.

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