WATER POLLUTION IN INDIA Roll No.04 INDEX 1. 2. 3. 4. What is water pollution? Sources of Water Pollution. Effects of Water Pollution.

How to Prevent Water Pollution?

What is water pollution? Water pollution is an undesirable change in the state of water, contaminated wit h harmful substances. It is the second most important environmental issue next t o air pollution. Any change in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of water that has a harmful effect on living things is water pollution. It affe cts all the major water bodies of the world such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and g roundwater. Pollution of the water bodies disturbs the ecosystem as a whole. Polluted water is not only unfit for drinking and other consumption purposes, but it is also un suitable for agricultural and industrial uses. The effects of water pollution ar e detrimental to human beings, plants, animals, fish, and birds. Polluted water also contains virus, bacteria, intestinal parasites, and other pathogenic microo rganisms. Using it for drinking purpose is the prime cause for waterborne diseas es such as diarrhea, dysentery, and typhoid. Mumbai, Pune, Delhi there is Lot of industries area so lot of Water Pollution Fa cts area in big city's what is the real situation in Mumbai with respect to wate r pollution is not very different from that of rest of the world. It has been ob served that around 45% rivers in the India are polluted. One cannot use water fr om these rivers for drinking, swimming or any such activity. Rivers are not capa ble of sustaining aquatic life. Forty-six percent of lakes in India are unfit fo r supporting aquatic life. Mumbai ocean pollution facts should help gain a great er understanding of the subject matter. Sources of Water Pollution The important sources of water pollution are domestic wastes, industrial effluen ts, and agricultural wastes. Other sources include oil spills, atmospheric depos ition, marine dumping, radioactive waste, global warming, and eutrophication. Am ong these, domestic waste (domestic sewage) and industrial waste generate maximu m pollutants, which make their way to groundwater and surface water bodies. Domestic Sewage: Domestic sewage is wastewater generated from the household acti vities. It contains organic and inorganic materials such as phosphates and nitra tes. Organic materials are food and vegetable waste, whereas inorganic materials come from soaps and detergents. Usually people dump household wastes in the nea rby water source, which leads to water pollution. The amount of organic wastes t hat can be degraded by the water bodies is measured in terms of Biological Oxyge n Demand (BOD). BOD is nothing but the amount of oxygen needed by microorganisms to decompose the organic waste present in the sewage. The higher the amount of

BOD, the more water is polluted with organic waste and vice versa. Many people a re not aware of the fact that soaps and detergents enrich the water bodies with phosphates. These phosphates often lead to algal bloom and eutrophication, which are common problems in stagnant water bodies such as ponds and lakes. Algal blo om and eutrophication lead to the suffocation of fish and other organism in a wa ter body. Industrial Effluents: Wastewater from the manufacturing and processing industrie s causes water pollution. The industrial effluents contain organic pollutants an d other toxic chemicals. Some of the pollutants from industrial source include l ead, mercury, asbestos, nitrates, phosphates, oils, etc. Wastewater from food an d chemical processing industries contribute more to water pollution than the oth er industries such as distillery, leather processing industries, and thermal pow er plants. Also, dye industries generate wastewater which changes the water qual ity especially water color. Since the water color is changed, there is alteratio n in the light penetration, thereby disturbing the aquatic plants and animals. M any of the big industries have come up with wastewater treatment plants. However , it is not the case with small-scale industries. It is very difficult to treat wastewater from the industries. Agricultural Waste: Agricultural waste includes manure, slurry, and sewage runof fs. Most of the agricultural farms use chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The runoffs from these agricultural fields cause water pollution to the nearby water sources such as rivers, streams and lakes. The seepage of fertilizers and pesti cides causes groundwater pollution, which is commonly known as leaching. Althoug h the quantity of agricultural waste is low, the effects are highly significant. It causes nutrient and organic pollution to both water and soil. Nutrient pollu tion causes an increase in the nitrates and phosphates in the water bodies, whic h again leads to eutrophication. Depending upon the origin, sources of water pollution are classified as point so urce and non-point source. Point source pollution discharges the harmful waste d irectly into water bodies, for example, disposal through wastewater treatment pl ants. On the other hand, non-point source pollution delivers indirectly through other ways, for example, water pollution from acid rain. Effects of Water Pollution Water pollution has number of effects. The effects could be classified as Effects on ecosystem Effects on animal health Effects on human health Effects on Ecosystem 1) Besides inorganic nutrient input, with the inflow of waste water, decompositi on of organic wastes, plant nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates takes plac e. This promotes the growth of oxygen consuming algae (algal bloom), especially the blue-green algae. The growth of oxygen consuming algae, which deoxygenates w ater killing fish and other animals is referred to as eutrophication. 2) Addition of oxygen not sufficient to support life. 3) Addition of non-degradable broad-spectrum pesticides, which cause mass destru ction of agnatic life. 4) Addition of oil destroys life by reducing oxygen and catching fine, destroyin g ecosystem. Effects on Animal Health Large scale death of aquatic and terrestrial animals Reduced reproduction rate Increased incidence of diseases Imbalances created in secondary food chains Accumulation of bioaccumulative and non-biodegradable pollutants in animal bodie s.

 Some organ chlorine pesticides (like DDT, BHC, Endrin) are known for bioaccumula tive and biomagnifiable characters. Bioaccumulation It is a concept wherein pesticides are not subjected to disintegration and excre tion from animal/human body. Bio magnification Due to bioaccumulative characters, these pollutants pass through the food chain and food web. While passing through the organisms, the concentration of pollutan ts gets increased. This is called bio magnifications. For e.g., 0.5 ppm DDT in g rasses gets magnified to 2ppm in sheep. It may be magnified to 10 ppm in human b eings who eat such polluted mutton. Some organochlorine pesticides cause health hazards like impotence, cancerous tu mors beyond a threshold limit of accumulation. Effects on Human Health Increased incidence of tumors, ulcers due to nitrate pollution. Increased incidence of skin disorders due to contact with pollutants. Increased incidence of constipation, diarrhea and infections to intestine. Dangerous effects on growing fetus in pregnant women. Concentration of pollutants due to bioaccumulative pesticides. Through secondary and tertiary food chain in case of non - vegetarians. Still births, abortions and birth of deformed children. 'Blue baby' disease caused by methane globinemia - which results in asphyxia (re duced O2 supply). Reduced activity of immune system. Loss of memory power and reduced mental sharpness. Water borne diseases like jaundice, hepatitis, gastroenteritis will be more prev alent due to water pollution. Reduced bone development and muscular development. Reduced male fertility. Shifts in physiological cycles of human body.