Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans,

aquifers and groundwater). Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate

treatment to remove harmful compounds.Water pollution affects plants and

organisms living in these bodies of water. In almost all cases the effect is damaging not only

to individual species and populations, but also to the natural

biological communities

Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, such as drinking water, and/or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water.

Threat due toWater pollution

Water pollution is a major global problem which requires ongoing evaluation and revision of water resource policy at all levels (international down to individual aquifers and wells). It has been suggested that it is the leading worldwide cause of deaths and diseases,[1][2] and that it accounts for the deaths of more than 14,000 people daily.[2] An estimated 700 million Indians have no access to a proper toilet, and 1,000 Indian children die of diarrheal sickness every day.[3] Some 90% of China's cities suffer from some degree of water pollution,[4] and nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water.[5] In addition to the acute problems of water pollution in developing countries, developed countries continue to struggle with pollution problems as well. In the most recent national report on water quality in the United States, 45 percent of assessed stream miles, 47 percent of assessed lake acres, and 32 percent of assessed bays and estuarine square miles were classified as polluted.[6]

Water pollution in

ganga

The Ganges is a the largest river in India with an extraordinary religious importance for Hindus. Along its banks are some of the world's oldest continuously inhabited places like Varanasi, Patna. It provides water to about 40% of India's population in 11 states[1]. In the modern times, it is known for being very polluted [2]. In Varanasi alone, an estimated 2.9 billion liters or more of untreated human sewage is discharged into the Ganges daily, although the existing infrastructure has a capacity to treat only 1.1 billion liters per day, leaving a huge deficit[1].

CAUSES

Human waste The Ganges river basin is one of the

most fertile and densely populated in the world and covers an area of 400,000 sq miles (1,000,000 sq km). The river flows through 29 cities with population over 100,000, 23 cities with population between 50,000 and 100,000, and about 48 towns [3]. A sizable proportion of the effluents in Ganges are caused by this population through domestic usage like bathing, laundry and public defecation.

Religious events During festival seasons, over 70 million people take

bath in the Ganges over a

few weeks [5] to cleanse themselves from their sins.

Some materials like food or

leaves are left in the Ganges

for ritualistic reasons. A Hindu belief is that dropping

the ashes of cremated bodi

es at the Manikarnika Ghat in the Gan

ges would give Liberation to the soul [6]. Consequently, a lar

ge number of semi-cremate

d dead bodies are left in the

Ganges at the Manikarnika

Ghat.

Dams Built in 1854 during the British

colonization of India, the Haridwar dam has led to decay of the Ganges by greatly diminishing the flow of the river. The Farakka Barrage was built originally to divert fresh water into the Bhagirathi River but has since caused an increase of salinity in the Ganges, having a damaging effect on the ground water and soil along the river [3]. Apart from this, Bangladesh and India faced major tensions due to this barrage. The government of India planned about 300 dams on the Ganges in the near future and the tributaries despite a government-commissioned green panel report that has recommended scrapping 34 of the dams citing environmental concerns. [7].

Industrial waste Countless tanneries, chemical plants,

textile mills, distilleries, slaughterhouses, hospitals contribute to the pollution of the Ganges by letting untreated wastes into it[4]. Industrial effluents are about 12% of the total volume of effluents reaching the Ganges. Although a relatively low proportion, they are a cause for major concern because they are toxic and non-biodegradable[1].

Plans made to cleanGanga

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court has

been working on the closure and relocation of many of the industrial plants along the Ganges and in 2010 the government declared the

stretch of river between Gaumukh and Uttarkashi an “eco-sensitiv

e zone” [18]. Protests for cleaning Ganges

Ganga Action Plan The Ganga Action Plan or GAP

was a program launched by 1985 Rajiv Gandhi in April in ord

er to reduce the pollution load o . n the river The program was la

, unched with much fanfare but i t failed to decrease the pollutio , n level in the river after spendi

र 901.71 ngCrore (~190 million USD adjusting to inflation) [13][14]. The activities of GAP phase I initiated in 1985 were declared closed on 31 March 2000. The steering Committee of the national river conservation Authority reviewed the progress of the GAP and necessary correction on the basis of lessons learned and experiences gained from the GAP phase; 2.00 schemes have been completed under this plan. A million liters of sewage is targeted to be intercepted, diverted and treated. The Phase-II of the program was approved in stages from 1993 onwards, and included the following tributaries of the Ganges: Yamuna, Gomti, Damodar and Mahananda. As of 2011, it is currently under implementation.[15]

National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA)

NRGBA was established by the Central Government of India, on 20 February 2009 under Section 3(3) of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. It also declared Ganges as the "National River" of India [16]. The chair includes the Prime Minister of India and Chief ministers of states through which the Ganges flows [17].

Other ways by which we can control water pollution

Cities with sanitary sewer overflows or combined sewer overflows employ one or more engineering approaches to reduce discharges of untreated sewage, including:

utilizing green infrastructure approach to improve stormwater management capacity throughout the system, and reduce the hydraulic overloading of the treatment plant[23]

repair and replacement of leaking and malfunctioning equipment[15]

increasing overall hydraulic capacity of the sewage collection system (often a very expensive option).

Heated water generated by power plants or manufacturing plants may be controlled with:

cooling ponds, man-made bodies of water designe

d for cooling by evaporation, convection, and radiation

cooling towers, which tra

nsfer waste heat to the atmosphere through evaporation and/or heat transfer cogeneration, a process

where waste heat is recycled for domestic and/or i

ndustrial heating purpose

s.[24]

Sediment from construction sites

is managed by installation of:

erosion controls, such as mulching and hydroseeding, and

sediment controls, such as

sediment basins and silt fences.[30] Discharge of toxic chemicals such

as motor fuels and concrete

washout is prevented by use of:

spill prevention and control plans,

and specially designed containers (e.g.

for concrete washout) and

structures such as overflow

controls and diversion berms.[31]