Restoration of oil contaminated soil by bioremediation for ground water management and environment protection.

Water is most essential but scarce resource in our country. Total water resources include surface water and ground water. Groundwater which is the main source for irrigation and drinking in the most part of the world constitutes about 89% of the total fresh water resources in the planet. But in recent years, due to over exploitation of ground water and erratic nature of monsoon, there has been depletion of ground water across the world. Further the quality problems of drinking water – both due to geogenic factors leading to chemical contamination like excess fluoride, arsenic, iron, salinity, nitrate, etc. and anthropogenic factors resulting in bacteriological contamination, pose serious public health problems. The problem has been further aggravated by the Petroleum industries which generate huge amount of wastewater, solid waste and sludge, some of which may be considered hazardous because of the presence of toxic organics and heavy metals. Accidental discharges as a result of abnormal operations or leakages due to flow line rupture or effluent water carry over with storm water can be major environmental hazard. The article discusses the acute water shortage in the North Gujarat categorically in Mehsana where water pollution is increasing day by day due to accidental discharge of effluent water or crude oil during transportation through pipe lines and enters into lakes, streams, rivers, oceans, and other water bodies. They get dissolved or lie suspended in water or get deposited on the bed. This results in the pollution of water whereby the quality of the water deteriorates, affecting aquatic ecosystems. Pollutants can also seep down and affect the groundwater deposits and ground water recharge system. Against this context the present article attempts to analyze the need for sustainable ground water management in India and highlights the attempt made to restore oil contaminated soil by advance technology i.e. technique of bioremediation of crude oil/oily sludge using specialised bacteria These specialised bacteria have the capability to breakdown and digest crude oil/oily sludge and convert them into harmless products like carbon dioxide, water and metabolites. This article discusses the development of microbial consortium and a case study of implementation of bioremediation and result obtained through it at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Mehsana (Gujarat).