Water Pollution Arrests India’s Health And Happiness - Tech and Environment

Downturn in environment is taking place everywhere across the planet earth and due to various ignorant (or human) activities, but in our effort to bring such environmental insights out, into global light through this portal, let’s begin our journey from root country, India.

Talking about India, massive scale of water pollution is being reported in the recent years, which has sent shivers down the spine of environmentalists and has also scared those with a reasonable mind and soul. As recently as in November 2019, thick toxic foam was seen accumulating on river Yamuna in Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj area, though the main cause was said to be pollutants which were pushed out in a large number, in the air, following Diwali festival, but still, it cast a deep impact upon the marine life. To make situation worse, Chhat Puja was celebrated soon after where devotees had to take deep dips into such frothy river to hail sun god. There is no doubt that the Yamuna water has become more toxic and is completely soaked in ghastly health hazards.

Here, it should be brought to light that the task of Yamuna cleaning is a significant part and specific parcel of Namami Ganga Mission and backed by Indian government, the states are empowered too, to check the pollution levels in river Yamuna, a tributary of river Ganga. It (polluting Yamuna) is a major cause of concern for those dwelling in the capital, since Yamuna caters to around 75% of water needs arising from Delhi.

Namami Ganga Mission:

In India, there have been taken deeply concerted efforts to refine and reinstate the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, as holistically clean. In Himalayas, the Ganga originates and makes its way (with a swift flow but which lacks ecological glow nowadays) into the Bay of Bengal. During such a flowing journey, Ganga covers a distance of around 2500 km passing through 29 main cities, 23 small cities and 48 towns, where, dumping of all type of waste takes place.
Namami Ganga Mission has been the major initiative in this case, which was launched by Union Government in 2014 and such a typical programme is supported by a whopping  sum of Rs. 20,000 crore. There have been outlined twin objectives targeted towards effective and immediate abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of Ganga and its tributaries.
According to Mr. Gajendra  Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti, there is measured a great improvement in the quality of Ganga water. He declared in parliament some months ago that cleaning of Ganga and its tributaries, however, is a long drawn process which needs to be revised from time to time, as time, circumstances and the objectives demand. There are devised 305 projects to meet such cleaning objectives, out of which, 120 are said to be completed and for which, an amount of 28.600 crores have been set aside.
Rivers Ganga And Yamuna Given Legal Sanctions:
By exploring deeper, we find that earlier in 2017, the rivers Ganga and Yamuna (along with all their tributaries and streams) were declared a legal entity resulting, such rivers now enjoy a set of rights, duties and liabilities, just like any living person does. As such, now, if anyone is found to be involved in polluting or damaging any of these rivers, is held guilty of committing a heinous crime. Evidently, such a move came as reinforcement to intent and battle to clean and disinfect the rivers.

Water Pollution: What are the potential dangers to our health?

Here, sans doubt, but water pollution in any form and in every corner of our planet is extremely disastrous to human survival as well as to other living creatures which live in water. Water pollution, is not a direct threat to our health but after a period of time, such exposure can get on the brink of severe health issues. Evidently, a wide range of pollutants harm the health of living creatures and in various ways, such as:

1. Industries put out huge quantity of heavy metals as a by-product of manufacturing and processing which tend to get collected near the lakes and rivers, located nearby. Such is a toxic waste that is immensely dangerous to marine creatures and
   
2. Truth be told, toxic compounds are most often found in the industrial waste and when such is dumped into lakes and rivers, aquatic animals’ health get largely impacted and when such are served as sumptuous sea-food, those thinking of enjoying the rich taste, actually consume virtual poison or poison in a smaller dose. Now, some of the industrial toxins are considered to be less harmful, while some are categorized as fatal, as the latter category can shrink the immune system, damage the reproductive organs or can also unleash acute poisoning throughout our body.
   
3. The bacteria, which in fact, infect to transmit severe diseases into humans, can be encouraged by such microbial pollutants that are largely present in the sewage. Actually, the microbial water pollution is a major cause of concern all across the developing world as likelihood of cholera and typhoid fever gain strength and such also result in infant mortality. Further, such are regarded as highly carcinogenic and can give place to birth defects.
   
4. Then, due to the higher concentration of organic matter in the sewage, aerobic algae get emboldened which soak the oxygen level in the water, thus virtually choking the fish and other marine organisms.
   
5. Besides, the acid rain (which again results from thickening blend of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that soars higher in the atmosphere) releases sulphate particles that sabotage the aquatic life of rivers and lakes and contaminate the water only to cause mortality.
   
6. Finally, freshwater gets replete with suspended particles in a gradual manner which also obstructs sunlight reaching into lakes and rivers and hence, the growth of photosynthetic plants and other microorganisms is prevented.
   In short, water pollution around the world, is worrisome to all of us, as the very human survival has been threatened directly and this is the time, we have to act responsibly, in favour of generations to come.