The importance of groundwater for the existence of human society cannot be overemphasized. Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in both urban and rural India. Besides, it is an important source of water for the agricultural and the industrial sector. Water utilization projections for 2000 put the groundwater usage at about 50%. Being an important and integral part of the hydrological cycle, its availability depends on the rainfall and recharge conditions. Till recently it had been considered a dependable source of uncontaminated water
.The demand for water has increased over the years and this has led to water scarcity in many parts of the world. The situation is aggravated by the problem of water pollution or contamination. India is heading towards a freshwater crisis mainly due to improper management of water resources and environmental degradation, which has lead to a lack of access to safe water supply to millions of people. This freshwater crisis is already evident in many parts of India, varying in scale and intensity depending mainly on the time of the year.
Groundwater crisis is not the result of natural factors; it has been caused by human actions. During the past two decades, the water level in several parts of the country has been falling rapidly due to an increase in extraction. The number of wells drilled for irrigation of both food and cash crops have rapidly and indiscriminately increased. India’s rapidly rising population and changing lifestyles has also increased the domestic need for water. The water requirement for the industry also shows an overall increase.
The Essay on How The 1857 Indian Mutiny Threatened Great Britians Control Over India part 1
How the 1857 Indian Mutiny threatened Great Britians control over India Since the beginning of the 16th century Britain used to have the colonies in India, a land that had given to the world Vedas, Upanishadas, Sanscrit, Yoga, the reacheast mythology and philosophy of the ancient civilizations Mohenjodaro and Harappa (now in Pakistan). The British perceived India principally as a place to make ...
Groundwater is an integral part of the environment, and hence cannot be looked upon in isolation. There has been a lack of adequate attention to water conservation, efficiency in water use, water re-use, groundwater recharge, and ecosystem sustainability. An uncontrolled use of the borewell technology has led to the extraction of groundwater at such a high rate that often recharge is not sufficient. The causes of low water availability in many regions are also directly linked to the reducing forest cover and soil degradation. Pollution of groundwater resources has become a major problem today. The pollution of air, water, and land has an affect on the pollution and contamination of groundwater. The solid, liquid, and the gaseous waste that is generated, if not treated properly, results in pollution of the environment; this affects groundwater too due to the hydraulic connectivity in the hydrological cycle. For example, when the air is polluted, rainfall will settle many pollutants on the ground, which can then seep into and contaminate the groundwater resources. Water extraction without proper recharge and leaching of pollutants from pesticides and fertilizers into the aquifers has polluted groundwater supplies. In addition, leachates from agriculture, industrial waste, and the municipal solid waste have also polluted surface- and ground-water. Some 45 million people the world over are affected by water pollution marked by excess fluoride, arsenic, iron, or the ingress of salt water.
Groundwater Contamination
Surface waters like streams and lakes are not the only water sources that suffer from pollution. Groundwater aquifers, which are critical sources of both drinking water and irrigation water, are also affected. The major causes of groundwater pollution are leaching of pollutants from agriculture, industry, and untreated sewage, as well as saltwater intrusion caused by overpumping.
The Essay on Water Pollution People Government Waste
Water Pollution Water pollution has affected many people and animals. Water pollution is the disposal of garbage into a water stream. Some of the water pollution is from littering, some water pollution is done by chemical leaks, and others by ships. Also, There is much information about water pollution. I am going to take that education on water pollution a step farther; and explain how water ...
Once pollutants enter a groundwater aquifer, the environmental damage can be severe and long lasting, partly because of the very long time needed to flush pollutants out of the aquifer (UNEP 1996:14).
Because groundwater is primarily used for drinking water, pollution from untreated sewage, intensive agriculture, solid waste disposal, and industry can cause serious human health problems (Shiklomanov 1997:42).
Global data on the quality of groundwater resources are lacking. Even where available, data usually are not comparable because of the different measures and standards used, which vary by country (Shiklomanov 1997:42; Scheidleder et al. 1999:11; S. Foster, personal communication, 2000).
However, there is evidence that nitrate contamination of Groundwater Poses a Serious Health Threat">groundwater contamination from fertilizers, pesticides, industrial effluents, sewage, and hydrocarbons is occurring in many parts of the world.
As with surface waters, nitrate pollution is one of groundwater’s most serious threats. In general, the risk of nitrate pollution for groundwater supplies is directly related to the amount of fertilizers or other nitrogen inputs to the land, as well as the permeability of the soil. For example, half the groundwater samples in a heavily fertilized region of northern China contain nitrate levels above the safe limit for drinking water (Zhang et al. 1996:224).
In the United States, where groundwater supplies drinking water for more than half the population, a preliminary analysis of nitrate contamination found that high nitrate concentrations are widespread in shallow groundwater aquifers in agricultural areas (USGS 1999:41).
Groundwater pollution in Europe is similarly widespread (Scheidleder et al.1999).
The widespread practice of releasing raw sewage in shallow soakpits has caused pollution of groundwater in many cities. Pollutants contained in seepage pits, refuse pits, septic tanks and barnyards may percolate through layers of earth and find their way into ground waters. Some times transport accidents may also lead to contamination of underground sources of waters. Some industrial products and wastes may also cause pollution of groundwater. In the industrial areas of Punjab and Haryana, for example, Ambala, Ludhiana, and Sonepat where bicycles and woolen garments are manufactured, significantly high concentration of nickel, iron, copper, chromium and cyanide have been detected in groundwater samples.
The Term Paper on Environment Pollution 3
Introduction Environment is the physical and biotic habitats that surround us, which we can see, hear touch, smell, and taste. However, the environmental natural resources are fully use by man kind for the purpose of daily activities, for example, the trees being cut to make paper or furniture. Besides that, activities such as open burning or disposable of solid waste will destroy and pollute the ...
Modernisation of agriculture has led to excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The nitrates being soluble in water trickle down through layers of soil into deeper layers of earth and ultimately are added to the underground stores of water. In many villages and townships where groundwater is the only source of drinking water this causes methaemoglobinaemia, particularly in bottlefed infants, because they are very sensitive to this pollutant.
You may wish to know how this disease is caused. What happens is that when water containing nitrates is consumed, it goes to intestines, where intestinal bacteria convert nitrates into nitrites. Nitrite ion combines with haemoglobin to form met haemoglobin, which inhibits the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, causing a kind of anaemia known as methaemoglobinaemia. The removal of nitrate from water is not accomplished very easily. Nitrate is a soluble toxic waste. Removal of soluble toxic wastes requires elaborate treatment procedures such as chemical coagulation and filtration, carbon absorption chemical oxidation, ion-exchange, electrodialysis and reverse osmosis. Any one or a combination of the methods can be used for removal of nitrates depending on availability of resources.
The indiscriminate release of toxic industrial wastes such as arsenic, lead, cadmiurtl and mercury compounds, and pesticides like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) may result in their trickling down to nature’s underground water stores. This seriously threatens the quality of groundwater supply, specially in areas where water table is high that is situated near surface of earth. Scientists are concerned that drinking even small quantities over many years may lead to bioaccumulation of these toxins in the body. What happens is that these compounds being difficult to metabolise, are stored in the body, usually in the fatty tissue. The persons dependent on contaminated water supply retain small quantities of these compounds each day. This phenomenon is termed as bio-accumulation.
The Essay on Chesapeake Bay Pollution Water Toxic Land
A Look at the Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay is America's largest estuary and one of the world s most productive. The Bay is home to over 2, 700 species. It draws water from over 150 rivers, streams, and creaks, receiving roughly 70, 000 cubic feet of water every second. That water reflects the surrounding land use activities of the District of Columbia, parts of New York, Pennsylvania, ...
Human beings consume also the products obtained from various plants which thrive on polluted waters and store these toxic compounds in their biomass. Non-vegetarian diet such as fish, pork and steak is also likely to come from animals which store these pollutants in their biomass. Man here acts as a centre into whose body, pollutants from various kinds of sources pour in. The quantity of toxic substances thus gets magnified. You can see that pollutants are getting concentrated into man through biological sources. And because the amount of toxic substances is increased through biological food chain, this process is also known as Biological magnification. During starvation when the body draws upon reserve food sources, these compounds are released into blood stream producing toxic effects.
Even in regions where water table is low, contamination of groundwater may cause serious problems, as will be evident from the following example.
