River Pollution: Causes, Actions and Revival

1 1 River Pollution: causes , Actionsand RevivalFor a better tomorrow, act todayJanhit Foundation32 ContentsPreface .. 41. Introduction .. 52. Rivers of India .. 53. pollution of Rivers .. 64. causes of pollution .. 75. River pollution in Western UP .. 106. How River pollution affects our lives: .. 13 The case of Jaibheem Nagar7. How to Control River pollution .. 148. How should I Contribute to Makethe Rivers Clean .. 15 About Janhit FoundationJanhit Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit non-governmentalorganization, actively engaged in the promotion of human welfarethrough environmental protection since areas of work include.

2 Groundwater quality protection for human health Provision of safe drinking water to marginalized communities Protection of River water quality for aquatic ecosystems Enhancement of available water resources through waterconservation measures Promotion of sustainable agriculture by organic farming methods Environmental education and empowerment of localcommunitiesJanhit Foundation undertakes this work through scientific research,campaigns, advocacy and grass-root level community a public interest organisation, Janhit Foundation focuses onstrengthening local communities through their active participation indecision making, to achieve sustainable development.

3 We believe thatenvironmental degradation can only be addressed adequately if localpeople are empowered in decision making at all levels and havecontrol over achieve our goals, we work in partnership with government,non-governmental, national and international organisations onenvironment and human rights Hudda, Editor Janhit Foundation, MeerutAddressRain CentreC-28, Shastri Nagar, MeerutPhones : 0121-2763418, 4004123E-mail: : by: Systems VisionA-199, Okhla Phase-I, New Delhi - 110 02054 IntroductionWater is the source of life. It covers 70% of the Earth. But onlya small portion of this precious natural resource is fit forhuman consumption.

4 Out of the earth s total water, 97% isstored in oceans which is not fit for human further 3% is stored in various sources like rivers, lakes,and under-ground of IndiaIndia is a blessed country when water sources comes intoquestion which is available in the form of numerous riversand lakes. It has 14 major, 55 minor and numerous smallrivers. India is often referred as the Land of Rivers . In factriverbanks first hosted human civilizations in India aselsewhere in the world. Rivers in India play important socialPrefaceRivers have a special place in the lives of the Indians. Theyconsider rivers to be sacred, take holy dip during Amavasya(New moon), Pooranmasi (Full moon) and on other religiousoccasions.

5 River water is used for irrigation which in returngives food to the people. They also maintain the ecology ofthe region and bring prosperity. An area without a River isconsidered to be poor. Unfortunately, during the past twodecades the River water quality has deteriorated at a rapidpace. One of the major reasons for this is the untreated wastewater being released to the rivers, turning them to be a dirtydrain. The Ganga and the Yamuna, the two most sacredrivers of our country are no exception to it. Thousands ofcrores of rupees is being pumped to save the rivers throughvarious present booklet is a small initiative towards creatingawareness amongst the community about the importance ofrivers and how the community is affected if they are notproperly managed.

6 I hope the booklet when distributed tovarious stakeholders like the community, students andteachers, government officials and scientists would createan impact on the minds of people which in turn would findsolutions to this monstrous sincerely thank Mr. Anil Rana, Director of JanhitFoundation to give me sufficient background material andtips to document this work. I also thank Mr. Anuj Sinha,Head, Rashtriya Vigyan Evam Prodyogiki Sanchar Parishad andDr. Pamposh Kumar, Sr. Scientist to support Janhit Founda-tion towards the publication of these us join together to save our Hudda76 causes of PollutionThere is no sign of River pollution being stopped.

7 It isincreasing day by day. There are several sources of waterpollution, which work together to reduce overall River waterquality. Industries discharge their liquid waste products intorivers. Our agriculture practice that uses chemical fertilizersand pesticides also contribute to River pollution as rainwaterdrains these chemicals into the rivers. Domestic wastes thatwe throw into rivers adds to pollution levels. As populationgrows, the size of towns and cities also grows. With that theamount of domestic wastes that we throw into riverincreases. In most of the towns and cities, the municipaldrains carry our wastes to rivers.

8 There are examples ofrivers catching fire because of high pollution levels. Thisshows how seriously polluted our rivers our everyday life we can easily see symptoms of riverpollution. The floating dead fishes in our River , any colouredwater in the River , or a bad smell from the River pointtowards River pollution . If you see or feel any of these thingsin a River be sure that the River is a victim of pollution . Riverpollution can be due to the causes below:a) Acid rainRain falling through polluted air absorbs some of thepollutants. Polluted air contains many poisonous gases suchas sulphur di-oxide (SO2), oxide of nitrogen (NOx) etc.

9 Thatreact with rainwater toform acids. We call thisacid rain. On reaching theground the acidic rainwa-ter has many effects. It canrelease harmful substancessuch as aluminium andheavy metals from the are normally presentand economic roles. This is the reason why Indians worshiprivers as goddesses. Our mythologies are full of storiesglorifying the current life is totally dependent on rivers. The riversystems provide irrigation, potable water, cheap transpor-tation, electricity, as well as livelihoods for a large numberof people all over the important rivers of India are:BrahmaputraCauvery (Kaveri) ChambalGanga (Ganges)GodavariGomatiHindonIndusJhelumK aliKrishnaNarmadaPeriyarRaviSutlejYamuna pollution of RiversThe spiritual reverence for rivers remains intact.

10 But thephysical well being of the rivers show that we have totallyfailed in keeping our reverence for rivers. Rapid growth inindustrialization to support the country s growing popula-tion and economy has polluted our rivers like never show that domestic and industrial sewage, agricul-tural wastes have polluted almost all of Indian rivers. Mostof these rivers have turned into sewage carrying drains. Thisposes a serious health problem as millions of peoplecontinue to depend on this polluted water from the diseases are a common cause of illness in Indiatoday. The bad effects of River pollution are not limited tohuman population only.