Colour Change in a Domestic Well in Thiruvananthapuram District, Kerala, India

摘要

Open dugwells are important sources of drinking water in coastal belt of Kerala. In general, the groundwater quality of Kerala is very good. Of late, these precious resources are getting contaminated by various effluents and anthropogenic activities. The present study is based on a local phenomenon, observed in a domestic wel 1 at Punthura, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This is a thickly populated area in which every household is drawing water from their own open wells for domestic use. The well in question is a domestic well belonging to Sri. L. Sathyaseelan. The well water initially turned blue on 21 June 2005 and later turned greenish blue. This had attracted media attention which brought the matter to the government's attention as well as creating some panic amongst the local populace. The well water is being used for domestic purposes including drinking. This is a shallow fully lined well with a total depth of 7.1 mbgl, static water level of 4.23 mbgl and having a diameter of 1.2m. Similar colour change was not noticed in any of the adjacent wells in the locality.