ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Water bodies are severely polluted as a result of indiscriminate dumping of domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes. The water bodies are polluted mainly through Point Source (Industries) and Non-Point (Agriculture And Domestic Sectors) Pollution Source.

The chemical used in Agriculture Sector (Fertilizer, Pesticides, Insecticide, Salts) move along with the drainage from the root zone to underlying water table/ground water. This further leads to the pollution of surface water as ground water flow into streams.

Another major source of pollution in water bodies found in varying concentration is ‘EMERGENT POLLUTANTS’. These are synthetic or naturally occurring chemical or any microorganism that is not commonly monitored in the environment but has the potential to enter the environment and cause adverse ecological and human health effects.

The main categories of emerging pollutants present in wastewater are

1.Pharmaceuticals (Antibiotics, Analgesics, Anti-Inflammatory Drugs,

2.Personal Care Products (Fragrances, Sunscreen Agents, Insect Repellents, Microbeads And Antiseptics),

3.Pesticides And Herbicides.

4.Surfactants And Surfactant Metabolites.

5. Flame Retardants, Industrial Additives
6. Chemicals And Plasticizers And Gasoline Additives.

Emerging pollutants are rarely controlled or monitored. Slow accumulation of pollutants over the years in many rivers has made them aesthetically unpleasant and biologically and chemically toxic.

For e.g. RIVER YAMUNA. Restoration of such rivers to environmentally acceptable levels is difficult it indicator of these is frothing of rivers Introduction of advanced methods of waste water treatment such as membrane technology, recycling, reclamation of waste water etc. help alleviate the pollution problem to some extent.

1. WATER HAZARD

Water-related hazards form a subset of natural hazards; the most significant ones include Floods, Mudslides, Storms And Related Ocean Storm Surge, Heat Waves, Cold Spells, Droughts And Waterborne Diseases.

Floods and droughts are part of the spatio-temporal variable water cycle dynamics and a natural phenomenon, the climate change and human interference have changed the frequency and severity of floods and droughts in many river basins worldwide.

Water-related hazards like floods, cyclones, droughts account for 90% of all natural hazards, their frequency and intensity is generally rising.

The human settlements in the disaster prone areas have negative consequences and thousands of people around the world affected worldwide every year. The variations in land use and climate change have altered the flood frequency statistics.

According to the United Nations Global Assessment Report, since 1900 more than 11 million people have died as a consequence of drought and more than 2 billion have been affected by drought, more than any other physical hazard.

Urbanization, river channelization and other human activities, modify the storage capacity of catchments and impact groundwater recharge result in increased occurrence of water-related disasters.