Coastal salinity in Gujarat increasing by the day: Study

Vadodara: Gujarat boasts of the longest coastline in the country and it has paved way for industrial development along the coastal area in the past couple of decades. However, the industrialization and consequent migration have contributed majorly to increase salinity in the state.
In its latest book titled ‘Revisiting ecology of the Gujarat coast: Trends of last two decades’, city-based Gujarat Ecology Society (GES) tried ascertaining how coastal dynamics have been altered over a span of 23 years.
In their study, researchers at GES found that livelihood of people have changed, sex ratio has been disturbed, urbanization has increased, which have all added to salinity. “Soil and groundwater salinity has increased due to increasing agricultural activities, too much use of groundwater for irrigation and domestic purposes,” said Dr Jayendra Lakhmapurkar, director of GES.
He added as population along the coastal areas has increased, people go on digging tubewells and water table has gone down. While the overall state population between 1991 and 2011 increased by 23%, in coastal areas, the population during the same period increased by 38%.
“Besides over exploitation of groundwater, damming the river and untreated sewerage water also play major role,” Lakhmapurkar added.
In 1960, Khar Land Development Board had found that 12,164 sq km land in the state was saline which increased to 16,899 sq km in 1992 as per the study done by Central Soil Salinity Research Institute. In 2019, Indian Space Research Organisation’s research found 18,073 sq km of land saline.
“As salinity increases, there will be an affect on several health hazards like kidney diseases or fluorosis if fluoride content is high,” he said.