beijingwalker
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India, with dying rivers, on the brink of extreme water crisis
Around 70 per cent of the fresh water available in the country is contaminated, making India rank among the lowest vis-à-vis water quality index.
Jun 07, 2019 12:58 PM IS
major chunk of India is on the brink of an extreme water crisis. The Composite Water Management Index report published by Niti Aayog in June 2018 reveals that around 600 million Indians are reeling under water shortage. Nearly 75 per cent households do not have access to drinking water on their premises.
To top it all, around 70 per cent of the fresh water available in the country is contaminated, making India rank among the lowest vis-à-vis water quality index. Here is a look at the condition of some of the mightiest rivers in the country.
The single-most religiously significant river in the country, this one sees thousands of devotees thronging its banks daily. Incidentally, prayer offerings are one of the major sources of pollution in this river. That apart, industrial waste from 1,100 units are emptied into it, along with sewage flowing in from towns in its catchment area. It is now one of the most-polluted rivers in the world, and the Central Pollution Control Board has deemed it unfit even for bathing.
Several clean-up programmes have been launched in the past few years, such as the Ganga Action Plan I and II, Namami Gange project, but very little has actually been done to resuscitate the river yet.
Brahmaputra
Once considered the lifeline of the northeast, especially Assam, the meandering river has also fallen prey to pollution now. Rapid urbanisation coupled with lack of proper waste disposal mechanism meant sewage being dumped into the river. Waste and oil discharge has rendered the Brahmaputra lifeless. All exercises involving clean-up drives are drowned in political mud-slinging and diplomatic hiccups with neighbouring China.
Yamuna
Another sacred river, and the artery of the northern plains, this too has been rendered severely polluted. Extreme heavy metal contamination and high presence of disease-causing bacteria Coliform, have made this raver’s water unsafe for consumption. Sewage and industrial effluents flow into the Yamuna from more
than 22 drains every year. Despite the Uttar Pradesh government and the Central government coming together to stop the river from rotting further nearly two decades ago, the state it is in has only gone from bad to worse.
Cauvery
This river starts in Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu. This has made its resources a bone of contention, giving rise to a huge riparian dispute. Once a perennial river, it has now been reduced to sand and silt. The river’s biome was gradually destroyed by human activity; even the riverbed now sees encroachment from both sides in long stretches. Seawater ingress has been another major issue with this river as the influx renders groundwater saline. Also, the faecal coliform level in Cauvery waters is alarmingly high, making it unfit for bathing.
Gomti
Irresponsible groundwater abstraction and waste disposal have turned Lucknow’s erstwhile lifeline lifeless. An ambitious project was launched by the Uttar Pradesh government a few years ago to revive the river, but it got stalled due to financial irregularities. Now, environmental experts claim that the project might have proved worse for the Gomti, damaging its self-cleaning capacity.
Ulhas
The Ulhas River may provide drinking water to more than 30 lakh residents of Maharashtra, but it is dying slowly. The river that originates in the Western Ghats turns into a smelly creek by the time it joins the Arabian Sea. Once again, untreated industrial waste and sewage disposal into the river has choked it. The river has been reduced to a nullah (drain).
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/t...he-brink-of-extreme-water-crisis-4072101.html
Around 70 per cent of the fresh water available in the country is contaminated, making India rank among the lowest vis-à-vis water quality index.
Jun 07, 2019 12:58 PM IS
major chunk of India is on the brink of an extreme water crisis. The Composite Water Management Index report published by Niti Aayog in June 2018 reveals that around 600 million Indians are reeling under water shortage. Nearly 75 per cent households do not have access to drinking water on their premises.
To top it all, around 70 per cent of the fresh water available in the country is contaminated, making India rank among the lowest vis-à-vis water quality index. Here is a look at the condition of some of the mightiest rivers in the country.
The single-most religiously significant river in the country, this one sees thousands of devotees thronging its banks daily. Incidentally, prayer offerings are one of the major sources of pollution in this river. That apart, industrial waste from 1,100 units are emptied into it, along with sewage flowing in from towns in its catchment area. It is now one of the most-polluted rivers in the world, and the Central Pollution Control Board has deemed it unfit even for bathing.
Several clean-up programmes have been launched in the past few years, such as the Ganga Action Plan I and II, Namami Gange project, but very little has actually been done to resuscitate the river yet.
Brahmaputra
Once considered the lifeline of the northeast, especially Assam, the meandering river has also fallen prey to pollution now. Rapid urbanisation coupled with lack of proper waste disposal mechanism meant sewage being dumped into the river. Waste and oil discharge has rendered the Brahmaputra lifeless. All exercises involving clean-up drives are drowned in political mud-slinging and diplomatic hiccups with neighbouring China.
Yamuna
Another sacred river, and the artery of the northern plains, this too has been rendered severely polluted. Extreme heavy metal contamination and high presence of disease-causing bacteria Coliform, have made this raver’s water unsafe for consumption. Sewage and industrial effluents flow into the Yamuna from more
than 22 drains every year. Despite the Uttar Pradesh government and the Central government coming together to stop the river from rotting further nearly two decades ago, the state it is in has only gone from bad to worse.
Cauvery
This river starts in Karnataka and flows through Tamil Nadu. This has made its resources a bone of contention, giving rise to a huge riparian dispute. Once a perennial river, it has now been reduced to sand and silt. The river’s biome was gradually destroyed by human activity; even the riverbed now sees encroachment from both sides in long stretches. Seawater ingress has been another major issue with this river as the influx renders groundwater saline. Also, the faecal coliform level in Cauvery waters is alarmingly high, making it unfit for bathing.
Gomti
Irresponsible groundwater abstraction and waste disposal have turned Lucknow’s erstwhile lifeline lifeless. An ambitious project was launched by the Uttar Pradesh government a few years ago to revive the river, but it got stalled due to financial irregularities. Now, environmental experts claim that the project might have proved worse for the Gomti, damaging its self-cleaning capacity.
Ulhas
The Ulhas River may provide drinking water to more than 30 lakh residents of Maharashtra, but it is dying slowly. The river that originates in the Western Ghats turns into a smelly creek by the time it joins the Arabian Sea. Once again, untreated industrial waste and sewage disposal into the river has choked it. The river has been reduced to a nullah (drain).
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/t...he-brink-of-extreme-water-crisis-4072101.html
Lol at your post.
