Saving Rivers is the Need of the Hour

Effects of river pollution in India

  • Adverse effects on health of the people residing nearby these water bodies.
  • Negative impacts over the environment dependent on the riverine ecosystem.
  • Soil fertility goes down due to increase in contamination and salinity.
  • About 80% of the stomach ailments in India happen because of consumption of contaminated water.
  • Most of the mega cities in India are located near large polluted river like Yamuna which has a direct impact over the peoples in these urban centres.
  • Effect of Nutrients on Water Quality- results in eutrophication.
  • Higher amount of dissolved solids may lead to impairment of physiological processes in human body as well as aquatic animals.
  • The discharge of cooling water from industrial and commercial operations heats up the aquatic environment and exert physiologically stress or may even kill them.

Extent of Pollution

  • The Mithi River from Powai to Dharavi with a BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) of 250 mg/l.
  • The Godavari — from Someshwar to Rahed — with a BOD of 5.0-80 mg/l.
  • The Sabarmati — Kheroj to Vautha — with a BOD from 4.0-147 mg/l and
  • The Hindon — Saharanpur to Ghaziabad — with a BOD of 48-120 mg/l.
  • In its compilation of polluted stretches in Uttar Pradesh, the Ganga with a BOD range of 3.5-8.8 mg/l is indicated as a ‘priority 4’ river.

Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand

  • BOD is the amount of dissolved oxygen needed (i.e. demanded) by aerobic biological organisms to break down organic material.
  • BOD is a proxy for organic pollution. If BOD is higher, the worse is the river. The health of a river and the efficacy of water treatment measures by the States and municipal bodies are classified depending on BOD.
  • When BOD is greater than or equal to 30 mg/l, it is termed as ‘priority 1,’ while that between 3.1 & 6 mg/l is ‘priority 5.’ CPCB considers BOD less than 3 mg/l, an indicator of a healthy river.

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

Image
Context Recently, US has decided to withdraw from the treaty due to several issues viz. Russia’s violation of the treaty, development and deployment of intermediate-range nuclear weapons by China etc. Russia has confirmed that the USA has decided to cancel the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed between Russian and the USA in 1987. The United States alleged that Russia is in violation of its INF Treaty obligations “not to possess, produce, or flight-test” a ground-launched cruise missile having a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers or “to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.” Russia denies that it is in violation of the agreement. On December 8, 2017, the Trump administration released a strategy to counter alleged Russian violations of the Treaty. About INF Treaty: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty  (INF) is the cold war treaty signed between US and Russia in 1987. The INF treaty prohibits US and Russia from possessing, producing or t...
Read more

Geneva Convention 1949

Image
Why is it in news? Pakistan violated the Geneva Convention What is Geneva Conventions? The Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers. It is also known as the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts. It was adopted in 1949. It includes four conventions, with three protocols added on since 1949. Their purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who become victims of armed conflicts. These Conventions and their Additional Protocols set out how soldiers and civilians should be treated during armed conflict. What are the four conventions? Convention I: This convention protects wounded soldiers and ensures humane treatment without discrimination based on race, colour, sex, religion or faith, birth or wealth, etc. The convention prohibits torture, assaults upon personal dignity, and execution without judgment. It also grants the ri...
Read more

Forest Rights Act

Image
Recent News In a writ petition filed before the SC by some ‘conservation’ groups and a few relics of the forest bureaucracy challenged the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 or the Forest Rights Act as being contrary to the Constitution and therefore outside the powers of Parliament to legislate. This Act, subject to its criticisms and flaws, was a largely positive move by the government to redress historical wrongs and prevent the alienation of forest dwellers from their lands a factor that was indeed contributing to the destruction of forests in many parts of the country. On February 13, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of lakhs belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) categories across 16 States, whose claim as forest-dwellers has been rejected under the Forest Rights Act. It ordered the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to make a satellite survey and place on record...
Read more