Polluted Water

Chemical Pollution

 Today toxic chemicals have transformed water bodies like rivers from life sources to toxic sources. Water released from the industries of Samalkha, Sonipat, and Panipat into the Yamuna increased the level of ammonia to such an extent that even the water purifying plant in Delhi many a times ceased to function. A hundred millilitre of water used for non-drinking purposes, should not contain more than 500 dangerous fecal coli form micro-organisms. But in many places more than 440,000 micro-organisms were found in Yamuna water. In such water, the percentage of dissolved oxygen is also very low. Currently no purification method is good enough to make the Yamuna water fit for drinking. The condition of the river Ganga is the same. Even after imposing several restrictions, most of the industries from Haridwar to Mujaffar Nagar drain their toxic chemical waste in to the Ganga, poisoning it. Many laws and acts have been passed to make the Ganga pollution free but these have remained confined to papers and files.

 Kali Nadi, which emerges from Antawada in Muzaffarnagar and merges with the Ganga near Kannauj, has become synonymous with cancer. The table given below shows the amount of chemicals drained into the “Kali Nadi."

Along with these pollutants, BHC, heptachlors and other banned pesticides are also found in this river. The same toxic water, mixed with ground water, is then drawn through pumps for domestic use, causing cancer and skin diseases. In Meerut there are 250 families within the range of a single block who have fallen prey to these diseases. Residents have repeatedly approached the government, administrative bodies and the pollution control board, but have not been heard. Out of desperation they have even held government officers captive.

Pollution in “Kali Nadi"

Pollution of Kali River 

In western Uttar Pradesh, the presence of TDS chemicals in ground water is leading to painful health problems in the form of renal stones. The saga is endless. The Hindon River which flows by Delhi is so polluted that families dither from marrying off their girls in villages near the river. 

Why should the upper class and their government bother about such problems if they can afford water filters and mineral water? Mineral water companies are also taking advantage of these conditions and making tremendous profit. Doctors are also profiting due to diseases caused by polluted water.

Polluted Ganga

Environmental crisis has also lowered the ground water level. Water suction with the help of tube wells in several parts of western U.P. has reduced water levels substantially and many wells have stopped working. Even expensive submersible pumps are unable to draw a sufficient amount of water. In 2007, the water level in the Ganga canal had reduced significantly. A weaker monsoon, dried up ponds, and over- exploitation of ground water are mainly responsible for lowering of the water level. The dumping of garbage has also lowered water levels, making the river shallow. The government’s negligence in preventing erosion of embankments has escalated the problems. In 2010, the shallow river bed of the Yamuna was unable to contain even rain-water and thus broke weak embankments, causing floods in rural Haryana.

The same situation more or less prevails in other countries also. Between 2000 and 2004, the people of South Asia were severely affected by acute flood situations resulting in their death and/or displacement.

Other parts of the country are also facing severe water crisis. Sambhar Salt Lake, which is spread over 230 km, is on the verge of drying up. Even after the extraction of up to 290,000 tons of salt per year from this lake, people of the region remain very poor. Over- exploitation of ground water in this region has caused drinking water problems in nearby regions. The market price of salt is 10 rupees per kg, but only 40 paisa is given to the workers, and the rest is swallowed by industrialists and traders. Several small and large scale industries have mushroomed in nearby region, out of which 74 per cent are illegal. Working 9-10 hours daily under severe conditions, the ill-paid labourers have blisters and wrinkles on their faces. This has spoilled the life of a complete generation of labourers. They die before the age of 45. More or less similar situation is prevailing for the workers employed in salt manufacturing industries at coastal areas in India.

Around 300 industries in Valsad district of Gujarat, producing chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides and pharmaceutical products, drain the chemical waste through long pipelines in coastal areas, making it a toxic, foul and marshy region. As per regulations, the chemical waste should be treated in the plant before discharge into the sea, and the quality of filtered effluents should be tested twice a day before draining. But industries blatantly ignore such laws. Leakage in pipelines pollutes the drinking water, which has caused skin, digestive and respiratory diseases in around 60 per cent of the people in the locality. Moreover, agriculture and cattle are affected significantly.

According to the standard of the Gujarat pollution control board, a pure sample of water is that in which fish can survive for 90 days. But in the sample, sea water sent for examination, the fish died within merely 5 minutes of examination. This explains why sea birds, tattlers, and cranes that depend on fish, crab, and shrimp for survival are a rare sight today.

Villagers are not even informed let alone consulted about the untreated discharge of industrial toxic residues that contaminate their environment. This is how the government that is “for the people, by the people and of the people” functions! It appears sadly to be a paralysed democracy dominated by a handful of capitalists. In the management of companies, neither villagers and nor their representatives are involved. People opposing the contamination, find their leaders either assassinated or bribed by management.

The situation is worse in Gujarat, where the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation officials themselves flout the rules. On the basis of data, videos and scientific reports, the villagers, filed a writ petition, but did not get respite. Their protests got trapped in a labyrinth of legal tactics.

Taking advantage of legal loopholes, industrialists carry on their crimes as usual. Industries do not hesitate to tear apart Pollution Control Board standards and Supreme Court directions. The condition of other industrial sectors is the same, be it breaking of old ships at Alang (Gujarat) or textile industries in Tamil Nadu. Even a historical heritage building like Tajmahal is not untouched by the acidic smoke emitted by the factories of Agra. These factories adamantly ignored the notice sent by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and the court. A myth is floated by capitalists that, if factories are closed down then the workers will be unemployed. Hence, they aim to show that what they are doing is for the greater good. But what they are actually worried about is their profit. The employers continue to brutally exploits workers by paying low wages and salaries and even oppress their demands by hiring local goons and sometimes even calling for the help of the police, all in the name of the ‘greater good’. When national and international environmental organisations mount pressure on the government, some reforms on paper and speeches are made, but the same saga of exploitation continues. Who cares for the plight of the masses when private profit is involved?