USE OF SURFACE WATER TO COMBAT GROUNDWATER POLLUTION: WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GANGA WATER TREATMENT PLANT OF CHAKDAHA, NADIA, WEST BENGAL

West Bengal is one of the largely arsenic contaminated states in India. In West Bengal, the groundwater in Nadia district is mostly affected by arsenic. The polluted water poses undoubtedly a great threat to the people of Bengal Delta living in and around the study area, Chakdaha. To save people from arsenic contamination, various short- term projects were taken previously decades ago, but unfortunately all those projects failed due to complicated operation, lack of maintenance and non- acceptance by the society people. The Govt. of West Bengal realised the severity of the problem and came forward to saving people from imminent danger. Hence is the establishment of this large Water Treatment Plant. The scheme in Chakdaha Block is named ‘ Surface Water Based Pipe Water Supply Scheme' based on the river Ganga (Hooghly). People of the study area are, therefore, greatly benefitted.The other advantages of the scheme are i) flood control, ii) groundwater retention, etc. Side by side, there maybe some disadvantages like i) siltation, ii) river water level getting low due to over exploitation of surface water. The research paper suggests using lentic water bodies and rain water as altermative source of water for sustainable development