Report15

Water Pollution in India By Zeke Bardash

India is a very ancient and very spiritual country. Much of India’s Hindu population bathes in the water of India’s rivers everyday. However, India’s water is extremely contaminated. India is currently having a huge outbreak of death and disease (as well as other things) due to the extremely polluted water supply. This can be considered the fault of the prime minister who claims that there is not enough money to make water (which is a necessity for human life) clean. However there are signs of hope for India’s water as well as its people.

There are indeed many problems with India’s water. In the city of Punjab, toxic chemicals (as well as other harmful materials) that have gotten into the water supply, have caused mutated DNA in a large percent of the population. Due to these mutations about sixty percent of Punjab’s population now has cancer of one form or another. Another grave effect is that children even below the age of 10 have begun to age (wrinkle and gray). The pollution is being cause by factories dumping industrial waste into Punjab’s rivers. The main chemicals that are being disposed of are Mercury and Arsenic. In small doses the chemicals are not really all that harmful, but at these levels they are really dangerous. This is clearly a tragedy that must be attended to.

However, in other parts of India people and organizations are doing lots of work to make India’s water safe to consume. In the town of Thumbaipatti, people are beginning to receive indoor plumbing (as opposed to using out houses or a bush, or the water). This is helping contain water pollution, because there is no longer untreated waste flowing through peoples’ drinking water. This also means that there are no longer clogged drains which are a major cause of pollution in India. Due to these recent changes in Thumbaipatti hygiene related epidemics are being held under control.

Another sign of change for the better, as well as awareness in India, about the polluted water, is that priests have stopped drinking the water in the Ganges river during their daily dips. It is a Hindu ritual for the priests (as well as other people) to wash oneself in the river, as well as drink the water from the river. One of these priests is also the head of the civil engineering section of a University nearby his temple. This means that he knows how dangerous it is to drink the polluted water from the Ganges river, and that he has the authority to tell his local followers, as well as pilgrims, to not drink the contaminated water while bathing in the river. If people (like this priest) continue to spread awareness for the harmful affects of the polluted water, then there is hope for India cleaning its water.

Delhi is another Indian city that is on the brink of having no clean water for its people. More than half of the population of Delhi doesn’t have clean water to drink. However people are making suggestions as to how the water can be cleaned up. One idea is to use the ancient, but clean, underground reservoirs that were used thousands of years ago. The only problem with this is that many of these reservoirs were destroyed during the long reign of the English government in India. If the government in India starts using these ancient reservoirs they will be on the road to having cleaner water.

Yet another, innovative suggestion by people concerned with the water pollution in India is that Indian people would benefit greatly if they collected rain water. The rainwater in most areas is perfectly healthy to drink and can be provided in great amounts. Precipitation would provide thousands of families with 100 liters of water, when only two and a half are needed daily. The abundance and cleanliness combined would help out many thousands of families with water.

While India does have horrible water pollution, and while their government does not seem to care enough about the high rates of pollution, it does seem as though Indian people are making strides to not only improve their living conditions but those of others as well. If India continues to try and make its water supply healthy enough to drink not only will the people be healthier but the country will also flourish.