Vijay Bombelli
The presence of unwanted and harmful substances in water is called water pollution. Mainly toxic emissions from factories, petrochemicals, pesticides/pesticides and garbage can be described. Contamination used to enter rivers/lakes earlier but it was conventional, small in volume and less toxic. Natural factors were capable of absorbing, dissolving and recirculating this contamination. Now there is an abundance of synthetic materials in the waste. Natural processes are not capable of controlling these unwanted substances. Well, who will abuse mercury, metals, plastics and petrochemicals?
It is because of this pollution that the Ganga has become polluted and the Musi River (Hyderabad) is breathing its last breath. Jammu and Kashmir’s economic Saharg Dal lake is also on the brink of death. If the dal is removed from Srinagar, what is left? Manipur’s Loktar Lake is also suffering from this. Odisha’s Jhilka lake is also under threat although it has an important naval base there. The same is the case with the Coom River and the Hussain Sagar that divides Hyderabad and Sindarabad. The water of Ganges, Jamuna, Kaveri and Godavari, which are considered holy, has also become extremely polluted. There are 98 cities and towns on the banks of the river Ganges. In its 2525 km length, about 29 billion cubic meters of waste water falls every day. There are only 16 cities that have sewer system, the excreta and garbage of other cities are being thrown directly into the river. Every day 200 million liters of untreated sewage gets mixed in Jamna. Delhi’s pollution reaches the Ganges through the Jamuna. The cities of Kanpur, Varanasi and Kolkata are throwing the most pollution. The whole of Kanpur’s leather industry is falling in this.
Untreated water discharge from cities and industrial areas has also made the Sutlej extremely polluted and toxic. The entire aquatic environment of its surroundings and consumption area is being severely affected. The Sutlej covers a distance of 277 km between Bhakra Dam and Pakistan. The domestic and industrial water of various cities falls into the Sutlej directly or through canals. Along with Budha Nala, its polluters include the Eastern and Western Weys. According to a study, “Factories pollute the most water by releasing untreated water. Dyeing, nickel, liquor and paper mills and wool and gin culture release 400 to 800 liters of dirty/toxic water after 100 kg of goods. Leave healthy fish in Ludhiana city and factories’ dirty and toxic water (which falls into old drains), they will die immediately. Garbage has accumulated in the Sukhna lake of Chandigarh. Seasonal water flows are also not protected, they have become sewage and garbage dumps of neighboring cities. Now even the seas are not safe.
An average of 30 million tons of waste is generated in western countries every year. Much is blamed on ‘developing’ countries. Now the waste problem is no longer localized. Garbage in the Ganges pollutes the Bay of Bengal. After this, the Indian Ocean and then the oceans become corrupt. The same is the case with countries and oceans. According to the environmental organization ORRCA (Orca), “For every one ton of fish caught for food, three tons of waste are thrown into the ocean. Garbage consists of 42 percent plastic which takes four centuries to decompose.… No one section of the society can be blamed for this problem. This is a community problem and can only be solved by the whole community together.”
Apart from excreta, every Indian household produces an average of half a basket of dirt every day. There are currently about 20 crore households in the country; That is, we are producing 10 crore baskets of dirt every day; 40 earth baskets annually. This waste is dumped instead of the specified places where it came from. Later it becomes a part of water bodies and streams, then oceans. Unbridled hybrid and chemical farming have also eroded soil and water resources. When the poison gets mixed in the water bodies, streams and ponds, the earth and the animal world also starts to get destroyed. What happened in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh? A small Chappa Dibagu river passes by Maladharu village. The population of this village was one thousand.
The biggest property of the people was their cattle. In the 80s, disaster struck the people of this village. The animals got a bloody convulsion, they began to squirm at the sight. Animal experts reached the village, inspected and warned, “The river from which the animals were drinking water, that river had dried up.” Today animals die, tomorrow it is man’s turn.”
Hear another story: Western Maharashtra Development Corporation runs a distillery in Chetali village near Ahmed Nagar. This brought Chetali to ruin. The water in the wells is not potable. Trees withered, fish and birds died and the land became barren and infertile. Alcohol swallowed the peace of families. Sorry! No one remembers the Bhupal and Malapad tragedy and now the pain of Chetali. Yes, people in Uttar Pradesh revolted when a sugar factory and another liquor factory allowed Gomti river water to remain unusable. When the liquor factory in Chhattisgarh poisoned wells and fields, people were outraged. The government had to ‘prove’ but how many other places is this consciousness? The rulers who have turned their backs on duties and ethics want to run the state with ‘wine earnings’. Liquid effluent from distilleries is a foul-smelling substance. It is very important to treat this waste before throwing it out but how many factories are following these rules?
A typical distillery that makes 40000 liters of liquor per day produces 4 to 6 lakh liters of this waste. The same is the case with paper mills. Environmental protection regulations allow 30 mg per liter for water pollution and 100 mg per liter for land pollution, but our factories are pouring this amount at 50000 mg per liter. The permissible ‘chemical oxygen demand’ is 250 mg per litre. Do you know what their congestion rate is? 85000 mg per litre.… and factories are still running. The water of the Beas river and its adjoining areas is also being polluted with increasing amounts of pollutants polluting watercourses and sources due to urban emissions and paper and liquor mills. This will happen to all the rivers of India in the next few years.
There was a small fishing village near Minamata Bay in Japan. As usual, the fishermen caught fish from this bay and sold it in the market. Hundreds of Japanese died from eating fish. When the bellies of the rest of the fish were ripped open, the people were horrified. Among the fish was the poisonous mercury that had been poured into the sea by the factories on the Minamata coast as pollution. Environment expert Dr. David Suzuki interestingly describes, “In the 40s when he was still a young man, he would go to Lake Ontario with a cup and drink the clean water. This lake is in Australia. My peers and I see the environment completely changed now. Now there are warning boards on the banks of this lake. Suzuki has warned, “Earlier it used to be said that the price for progress would be so much, but now it is not said; People will have to mobilize to stop water pollution, otherwise they will be killed.”
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