NASHIK: The water and sanitation department of the zilla parishad has completed 67% testing of the water samples from its sources for the chemical content in them. As many as 1,441 water samples across the 15 talukas of the district were reported to have chemical content above the permissible limits.
The last date for submitting information by the blocks was January 31. The chemical testing campaign was conducted from September 15 and December 12 last year.
An official at the department said that as many as 8,088 samples were to be tested, of which, 5,269 samples were received for testing. From the received samples, 3,227 samples were tested and reports for 1,441 samples across the 15 talukas of the district were reported to have chemical content above the permissible limits.
The samples are tested for pH levels, chloride, hardness, alkalinity, nitrate, iron and fluoride content. Niphad continues to have the highest fluoride content in its water sources with 69 samples being over the permissible limits, followed by Yeola with 26 samples, Deola with 17 and Chandwad with 13 samples.
As per the norms the permissible limits of fluoride is 1 mg per litre, while the permissible limit is up to 1.5 mg/litre.