Water has an overwhelming impact on all aspects of Kerala's life. Being one of the most densely populated states, a balanced use of water, without jeopardizing long-term sustainability is imperative. Monitoring qualitative changes and identifying factors leading to such changes thus becomes extremely important.

A working group was constituted by the Ministry of Water Resources under the Chairmanship of Sh S Kumar, Member, Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) to prepare and approach paper on groundwater quality issues and its mitigation plan in Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.

In this latest report CGWB summarizes various aspects of ground water quality in shallow aquifers in the country with special reference to six parameters viz. salinity, chloride, arsenic, fluoride, iron and nitrate.