Water- Apart from usage of mankind for various intention, there is a surrounding and a complete system called environment. This environment comprises of healthy atmosphere, maintaining wild life as well as Marine diversity along with protecting nature. All of these are affiliated with water, therefore , talking about water specifically rivers of Gujarat which are deteriorating at a tremendous rate.
This blog will demonstrate what is significance of rivers, how it is polluted, and what are the consequences of this pollution.
Firstly, as stated earlier humans uses river for various purposes either in terms of daily necessities or even at occasional times. There is a huge population in India related to agricultural field and therefore these are the ones for whom rivers become the primary significant need. River benefit in providing proper irrigation facilities and even helpful during climate crisis.
Moreover, there is a diversity of plants and animals that are dependent on river for their needs. For many species respective rivers are a habitat for living. Due to this a large number living organisms are directly or indirectly associated with rivers.
However, with the developing world, humans have sometimes failed in maintaining the natural beauty. But more specifically due to irregular management and over-exploitation, India becomes one of those countries where rivers are mostly harmed. Talking about Gujarat, the industries or factories or even households that have damaged the rivers of Gujarat will be discussed further.
This rapid urbanization is overwhelming our cities’ infrastructure; water resources being one of them. Water is sourced from farther and farther away to quench cities’ thirst, at increasing costs and risk. Water Risk Filter report of World-Wide Fund lists 30 Indian cities out of the 100 global cities at high and very high risk. World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct tool shows 60 crore Indians at higher risk of surface-water supply disruptions.
54 percent of groundwater wells in India are declining with 16 percent declining by more than 1 meter per year. NITI Aayog states that nearly 80 crore people in India are facing high to extreme water stress situation. Climate change is exacerbating this situation by making our monsoons erratic, causing drought and extreme rainfall events more frequent. By 2030, overall water demand for irrigation, industry, and domestic consumption is estimated to exceed supply by 50 percent.
While our cities are facing water supply and demand issues, our water sources – groundwater, rivers and other water bodies – are facing contamination from domestic and industrial pollution leading to deteriorating water quality. Direct disposal of untreated wastewater and faecal sludge into the open, increases the burden of cities to provide drinking water supply to its residents.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 351 polluted river stretches on 323 rivers across the county that do not meet the water quality criteria. According to CPCB’s national inventory of Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) published in March 2021, urban India treats only 37 per cent of the 72,368 million liters of sewage generated every day, with about two-thirds of the wastewater ending up polluting the environment.
The report of the water quality of Sabarmati, taken from various sites across the river (from the point where it enters Ahmedabad in to 120 km downstream where it exits) also raises serious questions about the quality of sewage treatment that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is carrying out.
Prajapati said ideally the dissolved oxygen level in a river should at least be more than 5 mg/I. “But the river has been so damaged that in most places the dissolved oxygen level was so low that it could not be measured in the first place. Only in the stretch of the river near Railway Bridge was it found to 4.66mg/I which is also below the minimum required level,” said Prajapati.
The report also found that in many places where the treated sewage was being dumped in the river, even those crossed the set limits. For example the stretch of the river near the Danilimda Sewage Treatment Plant had COD and BOD of 337 and 139 mg/I against the set limit of 250 and 30 per mg/I respectively. If one were to consider the norms set for the rivers, this should actually be zero and less than 3 mg/I respectively.(source-the Hindu, dna)
The consequences linked to this disastrous situation are :
1. Destruction of biodiversity.
2. Contamination of the food chain.
3. Lack of potable water.
4. Spreading of disease.
5. Infant mortality etc etc.
If India could implement 100 percent treatment and reuse of treated wastewater and faecal sludge from Indian cities by 2025, it can potentially meet over 70 percent of water requirement of industry and energy sector and irrigate 2 to 6 million hectares of land annually while yielding benefits from reduced fertilizer usage.
Nutrient recovery from wastewater can yield up to 4,000 to 5,500 tons per day which can meet the demand for integrated nutrient management for about 400,000 ha of farmland annually. Reuse of wastewater in agriculture has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 2 million tons of CO2e annually through decreased groundwater pumping and replacing chemical fertilizer.
However, one should also be able to prevent such causes up to certain extent which can be carried out through following ways:
1. Don’t throw any solid waste into the water streams as it clogs the flow of water thereby leading to pollution.
2. Avoid releasing construction waste into the river. Use organic gardening techniques and avoid using pesticides and other herbicides.
3. Chemicals of at all released should have been undergone treatments before releasing so that the species does not get affected.
4. Use recyclable items also avoid using plastics.
Furthermore, apart from the duties of individual, Government on a large scale are responsible in order to carry out a holistic approach. This can be in terms of increasing strict rules for the industries accountable of such causes or by providing alternatives that can reduce the harm.
