After her path-breaking discovery of 14 new species of Chironomus or midge fly in 2009, local scholar Dr Pragya Khanna’s has come up with alarming research findings suggesting “poisoning” of Jammu region’s groundwater with heavy metals (effluents) discharged by industrial estates. This may have a cascading effect on the health of the people causing severe ailments such as cancer if unchecked. The non-biting midge fly is an insect that resembles a mosquito and is a bio-indicator of stress, in response to different pollutants present in the water. Pragya, who has been assigned a project - “Physico-chemical and microbiological analysis of underground water in and around Jammu region and study on genotoxic effect of different pollutants” - has also found that a majority of industrial units in the region either do not have effluent treatment plants (ETPs) or have faulty ones as they continue to dump toxic effluents directly into drains and nullahs (freshwater rivulets) thereby polluting groundwater and affecting aquatic life in rivulets. But State Pollution Control Board chairman Arun Tickoo doesn’t agree with the research findings, saying the ETPs are in place wherever needed. A source in his office, however, not only admits that a majority of industrial units in the state either lack ETPs or have faulty ones but also says the project of having six common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) - three each in industrial estates of Jammu and Srinagar - hangs in the balance. The process was initiated three years ago, he says. “If reconciliatory measures are not initiated immediately to check effluents contaminating groundwater and freshwater streams like Basantar, Balole and Devak, the situation will assume alarming proportions over the next 10 years, causing diseases such as cancer to people,” she warns.