Toxic Rivers of India

Rivers flows naturally and normally are freshwater ones, in the most cases flow towards the sea, oceans and submerge in them. They are the source of drinking water, irrigation, energy,  provides food for humans and many other habitats, provides recreation, can be used for navigation. In India, they have mythological significance. But, the irony is that spite of profound respect, could not keep the rivers clean and pure. They are becoming toxic. And the pollution of rivers is the biggest problem India is facing right now and sewage is the largest source of pollution. Other sources of pollution are the agricultural runoff and unregulated small-scale industries. The situation is now so serious that there is no river in India which is not polluted.

The main cause of pollution is urbanisation. India is getting urbanised at an uncontrollable rate and in a much-unplanned way. Most of the urban waste/sewage is untreated and being released directly into the rivers. Also, due to improper control over the industrial waste and agricultural runoff. The untreated waste entering is 80% of the total water being used in the country.  This leads to tremendous pollution of surface water. The polluted water seeps through the surface and poison the groundwater.  It is estimated that approximately 61,948 million litres of urban Sewage is generated on daily basis in India (source CPCB report 2015).  Ganga basin alone contributes to one-third of the total wastewater in India.

                                                                                data credit: Times of India

                                                                                                                                                     

Some of the reasons for Water Pollution are:

1. Industrial Waste
2. Agricultural Practices
3. Reduction in water quantity in rivers in plains
4. Oil leaks from ships
5. Religious practices like dumping deceased bodies, immersion of idols etc.
6. Inadequate Industrial waste treatment

Wastewater being pumoed to the River

This water pollution will have some tremendously-adverse effect on the health of people and even other life forms living in the vicinity of the polluted water body. The rise in water pollution gives rise to the vector-borne diseases like cholera, jaundice, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, dysentery etc. Almost 80% stomach related ailments are due to consuming polluted water.

                                                 

There are nearly 275 polluted rivers in the country recently.  (See fig for Extent of pollution). Most of the polluted stretches are in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal. Estimated polluted river line length is 12,363 km and about 5times the length of Ganga main stem.

 

The extent of Pollution in Rivers

Though there are STPs in the country, they don’t accommodate the present urban growth. Even the treatment capacity of the existing Sewage treatment plants is around 66% of their installed capacity as per CPCB. In 2015 Central Pollution Control Board directed all the state pollution boards and metropolitan authorities to set up measures to treat the Sewage by setting up STPs in the respective states so that untreated Sewage doesn’t enter the rivers.  Even present government has initiated to clean the water bodies in India and cleaning of Ganges in the name of program Namami Ganges with top priority as it was the most polluted river in the country. Several crores of rupees were pumped to clean the river under this program. Completed projects under this program add up to 223mld of sewage capacity. As per the Ministry of water Rejuvenation, STPs of 760MLD would be set up. Also, 13million toilets were constructed in rural areas near the Ganges to reduce the sewage inflow into the river. Even though there is an increase in efforts from the government to clean the rivers, the pollution levels remained the same and have not shown any considerable improvement. Adding to this there is no evidence of a proper plan in re-use of the treated sewage.  

 

Pollution in Ganga

 Same with the case of Yamuna River.  The water quality is as pathetic as it’s not even good for bathing. There were many crores invested on the Yamuna Action Plan, by the central government to clean the river in a phased manner. Central government even funded states linked to the Yamuna for this program. But no improvement was shown to date.

 

 

Man bathing in Polluted Yamuna

Central government shall understand, apart from investing on the river cleaning, centralised STPs, it should encourage the urban bodies to re-use the treated sewage for irrigation, urban greenery etc.  They should look at the various countries which are successfully implementing the water treatment techniques and shall adopt to most suitable methods. 

Plastic Pollution and Danger to Environment

Plastic is a strong, light in weight and can be moulded into different forms.  Right from 1950’s it has become an essential element in the daily life and its production has increased exponentially from 1.5 million tons per year during 1950’s to more than 400 million tons now. These days plastics are used in almost all the products, say products related to health, nutrition, transportation, security, leisure activities, communication, shelter and what not. Simply elaborating, from the time you wakes up to the time you sleep, you deal with plastic for almost all the time during different activities. The popularity is due to the low production cost, low weight, flexibility, acid resistance etc.

As the amount of consumption is increasing, the problems with plastic also keep on increasing. Presently, the world per capita consumption of plastic in around 35kg. Fifty percent of this plastic waste comes from packaging industry and remaining most from the household. A large part of plastics turns in garbage. This trend would continue as the global plastic consumption skyrockets in coming 10 to 15 years. Today, mountains of plastic is getting piled up in land fill areas. As the landfill zone are piled up, due to further unavailability, this garbage ends up in oceans.  Before this problem grows to beyond controllable level, holistic a solutions shall be identified and implemented. Tackling this environmental terror will require governments to regulate, businesses to innovate and individuals to act.

                             

                           A Landfill consisting plastics

Generally, plastics don’t decompose. Instead, they slowly break down into fragments. Plastic bags and containers are made of polystyrene foam commonly known as Styrofoam. The plastics which mostly found in the environment are single-use plastics, like cigarette butts, Plastic water bottles, bottle caps, food wraps, grocery bags and take away containers. Because of treating plastics as disposable material, problems with plastics go on increasing.

Plastics block waterways, clog sewers and will become breeding ground for mosquitoes and increase vector-borne diseases like malaria. Not only these plastic bags were found blocking airways and stomachs of hundreds of species. Aquatic animals often mistake the plastics as their food and absorb them, and becomes victim to it. From whale, sea lions and birds to microorganisms like zooplankton, plastic has been and is affecting the life of onshore and offshore animals. ‘Plastic debris in the world oceans’ Green Peace report published in 2006 stated that at least 267 species have suffered from ingestion and mess caused by plastic debris. Every year plastic debris is killing multiple numbers of birds, fishes and other animals.

                              

                              Turtle consuming plastic

There is evidence of toxic chemicals added during manufacture of plastic transfer into animal tissue, eventually entering into the human food chain. Styrofoam products contain benzene and styrene. These are highly toxic and carcinogenic if ingested, and damages the nervous system, lungs and reproductive organs. Also, toxins in Styrofoam containers can be transferred to foods and drinks and risk seem to increase while reheating the food when still in the container. Burning of plastics in open air releases toxic gases like furan and dioxin. When plastic breaks down into microplastic particles it becomes very difficult to remove it from open oceans. Plastic clogging the drains may pose to devastating floods (an example is 1988 floods in Bangladesh) causing deaths to many.

In developing countries, littering of plastics can lead to apparent Welfare losses associated for instance to the visual disrespect of a park being contaminated with litter. Plastics create pollution and are increasingly becoming a priority for the countries which rely on tourism as a major economic source. Asia Pacific countries through APEC estimated an impact of $1.3 billion on tourism,, fishing and shipping industries of that region. On other hand, Styrofoam products cannot be recycled in a local setup and be transported to centralised setup. This makes Styrofoam recycle financially unviable. In addition to the above issues, Styrofoam is air and making it not cost effective to store and transport for recycling.  The costs of accumulating plastics stand higher than preventing littering today. Some studies suggest that impact on world marine ecosystem is around $13 billion every year.

                                  

                             Plastic pollution in Oceans

To overcome this issue, better waste management systems shall be adopted and reuse of plastics shall be encouraged. The ban on single-use plastics can counter some of the symptoms of plastic overuse. Circular thinking needs to be adopted to design, produce, distribute, consume, reuse/repair and recycle.      

Modern Farming- Big picture of the New world Agriculture.

Metropolitan population increasing at a rapid rate. At present 54% people live in Urban areas. Projections show that the world could add up to 2.5 billion population to the Urban areas with close to 90% growth alone from Asia and Africa by 2050. Countries like China, India, Nigeria will have the highest increase in Urban population as per the World Urbanization prospects by UN DESA. With this one can understand that the Food requirement by 2050 is dependent on the population by that time and is also directly proportional to the rate of food production. To feed a population of 9.1 billion, it would require raising overall food production to 70% by 2050 to meet the demand.

But, right now there are many worrying trends such as decreasing crop yields, loss of topsoil, increased demand for meat, effects of climatic change and growth of biofuels. These aspects keep a considerable amount of pressure on food supply in the coming years, which may result in shortages. At present world's agricultural land is assumed to be 40% of the total land on earth and areas suitable for further expansion looks very limited. To overcome the present visible scenario, new methods more sustainable and can provide more yields needs to be adopted. This is not as easy as spoken, because most beneficial and productive methods of urban farming such as Hydroponics and Aquaponics, still deserve a better place in farming.

Hydroponics
By Hydroponics one can adopt various methods like vertical farming, tower garden, Flood and drain systems, wick system etc., which can reduce the land usage and farming can be done in a little available area with much more productive than conventional methods. Crop yield will be much faster than other methods, at the same time no chance of soil-borne diseases. The consumption of water is less with an increase in productivity when compared to conventional means of farming. Farming can be done in all seasons

Cultivation of Tomatoes using Hydroponics technique

Though this system has many benefits, the initial cost of setting up the project is high and require constant supervision. Due to dependence on power, some areas may face the power outage, where you require to water the garden manually.

Aquaponics

Aquaponics is a technique where the combination of aquaculture is used for growing fish and other aquatic animals along with the hydroponics cultivation of crops without using soil. In this method nutrient-rich water is used to raise fish, which produces natural fertilizer for the plants and plants helps to purify the water for the fish. In this process, you will feed the fish and in turn, fish will feed the plants. Water used for this kind of farming is less and the recycled. With this method, you can grow 8 times more food per acre compared to traditional agriculture. This method is sustainable and nature-friendly. Soil-borne diseases can be reduced.  Pesticides can be avoided by this method of cultivation. Only this to do is keep an eye on Ph value in water, oxygen levels to be maintained and excess feed for fish shall be removed.

Large Aquaponic farm

 Apart from mentioned methods, others such as Aeroponics and Hybrid Seed Technology would be amazingly refreshing and gives the required outputs. With these methods, farmers can overcome a short supply of water by minimizing the water consumption for the crops. Much research is being carried out to increase sustainable agriculture with larger yields. Hope extensive research in farming may bring newer technologies and reduces the excess demand for food due to increase of population and decrease in land bank in the future.