About 80 % of urban waste in India ends up in rivers where it destroys river ecosystems and it also makes bodies of water unfit for human use, not to mention the fact that many river species population are falling rapidly and if this trend continues this rivers could soon become dead rivers.
Untreated sewage often ends up in rivers and testing of the water from the Ganges River near Varanasi showed that levels of fecal coliform, a dangerous bacterium that comes from untreated sewage, were about 3,000 percent higher than what is considered safe for bathing. This is of course causing many illnesses. It also has to be said that India invested lots of money in clean-up efforts, especially in area of New Delhi, but that isn't enough considering rapid growth of population in India and it hasn't resulted with cleaner water. The worst fact is that water-borne diseases are India's leading cause of child mortality
Air is also polluted in India almost as much as in China and some experts believe that smog from India and China could even change weather patterns in North America. Even the famous Taj Mahal is becoming more and more yellow because of tremendous air pollution.
India is already facing massive environmental damage and environment isn't the only victim of this story. Many deaths and diseases of human population are already caused as the result of air and water pollution and many more will follow unless something is done. But what can be done, what is the right solution? Hard to say, maybe to try lifting ecological conscience and awareness of population, but that's very hard to achieve among rural and uneducated population. It's really now or never for Indian government to come up with the plan to save something before it goes out of their reach. But that is unfortunately almost an impossible mission.
Pollution grows in India
The main indian rivers like ganga, yamuna and its tributaries, are highly populated and predominantly rural catchment, heavily as a water resource for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses, while untreated groundwater is the primary source of drinking water.Water quality in India’s rivers is controlled
ReplyDeletethrough a series of guidelines established by the
Central Pollution Control Board. However, as
these targets are guidelines only, they carry no
legislative weight and are therefore unenforceable.
Routine and systematic monitoring of water
quality is not yet established Severe pollution was identified as having an
adverse effect on local populations. Pressure from
public resulted in government action to improve
water quality and compensate those adversely
affected.Government control of effluent discharge
standards is seen to fall far short of that required
to ensure compliance by polluting industries
with the required standards, as no monitoring
program has been established