Water Pollution

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Topic     water pollution          contemporary issues related to ecology

 prelims            G3 mains 

Water Pollution 

Currently India faces both water quality and water availability challenges surface and groundwater pollution are rampant in the country. 

  • GROUND WATER POLUTION 

Ground water is the main source of drinking water. Therefore, any contamination of ground water is a major concern for health security. 

There are two major source of ground water contamination/ Pollution.

  1. Geogenic source: this is natural occurrence of under ground rock formation which is responsible for Iron,  Arsenic and Fluoride contamination in ground water. When the contamination crosses the permissible limit of these contents becomes hazardous for health. 
    • Permissible limit of : 
      •  Arsenic: 0.01 mg per litre 
      • Fluoride: 1.5 mg per litre 
    • Fluoride affected states are, Andhra-pradesh  Assam, Bihar 
    • Arsenic affected states are, Assam. Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, 
  2. Anthropogenic source : it compromising human activities that  are responsible for ground water contamination with nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals  ( metals which has high, weight, atomic number, and high density such as iron, gold, silver, copper etc).
 Central Ground Water Board : monitor ground water contamination through the network of about 14000 wells across India to gather data regarding Arsenic,  iron,  Fluoride, Nitrate, Salinity  etc.

  • SURFACE WATER POLLUTION
 Major sources of Surface water are rivers, ponds, lakes.
These are used mainly for agriculture, industrial, drinking, bathing, etc. Therefore, their polluted water posing various health risks to human, animal and water species. 

Major causes of river / surface water pollution are-
  1. Disposal of untreated sewage due inadequate sewage treatment facility in urban areas 
  2. Disposal of  untreated industrial effluents 
  3. Disposal of raw sewage from rural areas.
  4. Plastic Pollution 
  5. Agricultural inputs like fertilizers, insecticide, pesticide etc.
  6. Solid waste dumping 
  7. Raw sewage from unplanned area
  8. Discharge from habitations and Dhobi Ghats
  9. Practices like Idol immersion, Chhatta Puja etc.
For example, Pollution problem in Yamuna: 22 km stretch between Wazirabad to Okhla is the most polluted, where 2% length of  total length of the Yamuna is responsible for 70% of total pollution in the river. Causing frothing, dirty, odour, turbidity etc.

Causes of Pollution of the Yamuna-
  • Disposal of  untreated industrial effluents 
  • Solid waste dumping 
  • Raw sewage from unplanned area
  • Discharge from habitations and Dhobi Ghats
  • Practices like Idol immersion, Chhatta Puja etc.
Measures for mitigating water pollution in in India 
  • Water ( prevention and control of pollution) Act,  1974.
  • National water quality monitoring programme
  • Namami Gange Programme 
  • National river conservation plan

YAMUNA  ACTION PLAN

It is "Six- points Yamuna Action Plan".It was launched by the Delhi government on 19 November 2021 to clean the river Yamuna by  February 2025.  The Yamuna river enters in Delhi near Palla and travels about 48 km through the city. 

Six-points Yamuna action plan: these are -

  1. Increasing capacity of sewage treatment plant and improving the quality of treatment: for this there are three ⚟ 3 action that will be taken-
    • setting up new sewage treatment plants such as in Okhala, Kondli, Rithala and so on.
    • Increasing the capacity of existing sewage treatment plants
    • Upgradation of existing sewage plats with new technology because of old technology treated sewage is dirty.
  2. Cleaning of Major drains: the action will include in- situ cleaning of major drains such as Najafgarh, Shahdara, supplementary drains and Ghazipur drain will be cleaned on the spot with new technology without diverting its waste to another plant and the remaining drains will be diverted to STPs.
  3. Taking action against industries: 
    • All the effluent treatment plants that are not operating properly would be repaired and upgraded with new technology.
    • proper effluents treatment would made by  industries and if they do not adheres to norms action against the units would be taken.
    • the industries which fail to send their waste to effluent treatment plant will be closed.
  4. To develop community toilet: 
    • community toilet will be built in different slums and Jhuggis because waste from there are being released into the storm water drains.
    • Waste will be diverted and linked  to sewage lines so that the waste is treated properly.
  5. To increase household sewage connection in the city
  6. De-silting and rehabilitation of the city`s entire existing network

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