The latest findings on Punjab’s groundwater should alarm every citizen. According to the Central Ground Water Board’s updated Annual Ground Water Quality Report, released in November 2025 (available at: https://cgwb.gov.in/cgwbpnm/public/uploads/documents/17363272771910393216file.pdf), more than half of the state’s groundwater samples contain contaminants far above safe limits. National newspapers citing this updated assessment now report an even more disturbing statistic:
62.5% of Punjab’s groundwater samples, collected post-monsoon, exceed the safe uranium limit of 30 ppb, while the pre-monsoon figure was already above 53%. If accurate, this is not merely an environmental issue—it is a full-blown public health crisis unfolding silently beneath our feet.
Punjab’s groundwater has been pushed to collapse by multiple human-made pressures. The first is extreme over-extraction. For decades, Punjab has withdrawn more groundwater than almost any region in the world. Locked into water-hungry cropping patterns—especially paddy—our farmers have had no option but to drill deeper borewells every year. As water tables fall, the chemistry of the aquifer changes, and uranium naturally present in rocks dissolves into the water. This is not “natural contamination.” It is the predictable outcome of policy choices that ignored scientific warnings for nearly 40 years.
The second factor is the uncontrolled use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Punjab’s soil has been overloaded with phosphatic fertilisers that increase uranium mobility, while decades of heavy, often unregulated pesticide use have seeped deep into the earth. What was promoted as “modern agriculture” has now become a slow toxin entering our wells and our bodies. The irony is painful: we resist modern seeds that require less water and fewer chemicals, but we continue with practices that are poisoning our soil, water and people.
The third and most disturbing contributor is industrial pollution. Across Punjab, polluting industries continue to dispose of toxic waste by pumping it directly into borewells—bypassing treatment plants and evading Pollution Control Board scrutiny. This is an open secret in many industrial belts. Once these chemicals enter groundwater, they spread quietly and permanently, contaminating entire blocks and villages. Punjab’s regulators have failed to stop this. Weak monitoring, lack of accountability, political interference, and ineffective enforcement have allowed this disaster to grow unchecked.
The human cost is visible and heartbreaking. For years, the Malwa region has been known as the “cancer belt.” High uranium levels in drinking water are linked to kidney damage, bone deformities, developmental disorders and cancer. When science, medical evidence and now government monitoring all point to a deepening crisis, pretending everything is normal becomes criminal negligence.
Punjab needs urgent, war-level action. The government must immediately release the full CGWB dataset—district-wise, block-wise and by depth—because people have the right to know what they are drinking. There must be a zero-tolerance crackdown on industries injecting waste underground, with sealing and prosecution of offenders. Punjab must rapidly move away from paddy and support farmers with assured procurement for alternative crops. River-based drinking water schemes must be fast-tracked across the state because groundwater can no longer be treated as safe. High-risk districts must be declared public health emergency zones, with immediate medical screening, water testing and community alerts.
This is not a political issue. It is a survival issue. Punjab—the land of five rivers—cannot be allowed to become a land of poisoned water. If we ignore this warning, future generations will not forgive us.
And perhaps most tragically, we have forgotten the words of our own Guru: “Pavan Guru, Pani Pita, Mata Dharat Mahat.” We chant these lines daily, but we have abandoned their meaning. We pollute our air, poison our water and exhaust our soil and claim ourselves Guru’s Sikhs