Water Shortage and Water Contamination :- Unnoticed Biggest Threat to Livelihood

Everyone on here earth e.g. humans, animals, plants, birds and aquatic creatures have most important
element in the body and required for living that's water either we are aware about saving it or not,
either we understand it’s social-economic value or not. A mere one second thought, what happen if
water will not be available to us ? is adequate to prove its importance in our life.

Water Share of India

India is second most populated country in the world with 18 % share of world population. But
alarming is, India ranks at 128 number in list of freshwater resources by country. India is home of only
4% of total world water resources.
We are a nation of less water share naturally and comes under water stressed country as per World
Health Organization (WHO) directive. According to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), A human being
requires 135 Liters of Water Per Day for daily use such as Drinking, Bathing, Hand Washing, Flushing,
Sanitation, Cooking etc, it means if a person live for 60 years, he will utilize 29.56 lakhs liters of water
in his whole life but on average an Indian has only 11 lakhs liters of water.

Water Shortage in Nation

Daily we suffer water crisis in our households, hear about water shortage from neighbors, read the
news about zero to less water supply in various parts of country. Lack of water supply infrastructure,
ease of electricity and fuel availability and introduction of advance pumping technologies turned the
public mindset towards withdrawal of groundwater. Currently, 80 % of agriculture land in India is
irrigated through Groundwater. And 85 % of water we drink is pumped out from ground. This trend
plus neglected attitude towards water use efficiently results in depletion in level of groundwater
comprehensively. Drying of existing and proposed handpumps, borewells has been experienced at
uncountable numbers of locations all over India. Despite over-exploitation of groundwater,
submersibles are expanding rapidly in individual homes, offices, apartments, factories, hospitals, hotels
etc. in unregulated manner.

Dirty Water
We doesn't have only single problem of water scarcity, another bigger issue is contamination of water
which is already available in very less amount as if we look we only have one third water resources
against the demand.
Central Pollution Control Board states that 70 % of water including surface water present in rivers,
lakes and ponds and groundwater is contaminated. In the Global Water Quality Index, India ranks at
120 among 122 nations.

What is in our Glass of Water ?

India's Groundwater contains an frighten level of constituents of concern. At first when we drink
groundwater, we felt strong taste of salt, it's because excessive salinity in groundwater, 212 districts of
India are affected by heavy salt presence. Around 2 lakh square kilometers of area is having salinity
high as eight times of prescribed standard for drinking water. In some locations of Rajasthan and
Haryana states, 20 times of standard salinity had been reported. Apart from it, drawing excess water
near to coastal area will rise the salinity of groundwater and India have a long coast line of 7500 km.
The other elements of deep concerns are heavy metals such as Flouride, Arsenic, Iron, Uranium etc. 11
states of India including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh etc which
houses nearly 60 % of population are majorly affected by high flouride level above the required BIS
limit of 1.0 mg/l. 65 % of rural population is experiencing flouride contamination in our nation.
Arsenic (As) have covered 153 districts out of total 640 districts with it's dense concentration.
Currently 15811 habitations are suffering arsenic problem in drinking water.
Iron which should be below 0.3 mg/l in drinking water without any relaxation has found it's way with
shocking most observed composition of 49 mg/l. Assam, West Bengal, Orrisa, Chattisgarh and
Karnataka are immensely iron contaminated states. Certain presence of Uranium has been reported in
16 states of India.
In the shallow borewells, nitrate contamination is very common, multifold concentration beyond strict
BIS limit of 45 mg/l has been estimated in most of districts of 16 states of India such as Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala etc.
Nitrogen and Phosphate Fertilizers, Pesticides and Industrial waste leaching into the groundwater plays
a big role in making our water more toxic, This waste contains dangerous compounds which reverse
back into the food chain as India is biggest consumer of groundwater for growing crops. Pesticides are
so reluctant that almost every bottle of packaged treated water we drink exceeds pesticides limits set by
WHO and BIS.
Water provided to us by nature through melting snow from mountains and rain, stored and flowing in
beautiful rivers, lakes, ponds has been drastically polluted by our activities. Around 60 % of our river
stretches including Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari, Sone, Cauvery, Krishna, Damodar and Brahmaputra
are loaded with organic matter, chemicals, pathogens and heavy metals (Zinc, Lead, Cobalt etc). In a
testing drive by CPCB in 2018, agency tested Ganges at 41 locations, surprisingly only at 04 locations
Ganges water found fit for use.

Roots of Situation
In case of water scarcity, reasons are multidimensional, we are premier agriculture based country, Over
90 % of water is used by agricultural sector of India and problem doesn't lies in the use of water in
growing crops, problem lies in efficiency of water use. India use two to four times more water for
growing same amount of crop as compared to Brazil and China. For example in case of sugar, flood
irrigation results in 35 % loss of water providing only 65 % of efficiency. So non-awareness and non-
adaption of efficient technologies like drip irrigation is the center of problem. Water wastage and lack
of water saving solutions in industries and households adds the other aspects in problem. Insufficient
storage infrastructure for water arising from rain and rivers flow is the third reason for the current
status.
Water contamination adds an sparks into the exposed fuel and assemble the situation into vulnerable
condition. Geographical reasons are responsible for groundwater contamination at large extent, lesser
but effective sources are seepage of very dangerous substances such as fertilizers, chemicals used for
controlling pests from agriculture field. Leaching of domestic sewage passing through raw drainage
system and industrial liquid waste also plays vital role in poisoning groundwater.
Applications of freshwater into the daily chores like bathing, kitchen Use, cleaning and flushing turns
it into sewage, only 7% of sewage is treated before disposal into rivers and nearby water bodies. 93%
of untreated sewage founds it's way in the water reservoirs. Sewage alone is responsible for 80% of
total water pollution in the nation. Almost every factory utilize water in it's process which yield the
impure water out of process, most of industries have installed effluent treatment plants but not properly
operating them for saving money, this wastewater enters into the freshwater reserves flowing through
drain. Runoff (surplus) of industrial, mining and agriculture waste (mainly composed of fertilizers,
pesticides) into nearby lakes and ponds deteriorate the quality of water. Everyone of us have seen the
algae cover over ponds in the agricultural rich region, it's eutrophication effect of fertilizers runoff into
it. These runoffs are accounting massively in the water pollution, doesn't bound by any standard or
legislation in our country.

Affecting Everything :- Human Health, Living, Floura & Fauna, Animals, Fishes and Economy
Water shortage is directly affecting everything in the 360° direction; including only handful of water
for daily use, productivity loss in the farming causing economic breakdown of farmers and threat to
food security of nation, reduction of production in industries, lower flow in the rivers, negative impact
on tourism in the hilly areas, lower forest cover and death of animals and birds in search of water as
they are only dependent on surface water.
We are on both sides of two way sword and every side is more sharp than other. As stated above major
contaminants in the groundwater are salinity, dissolved solids, heavy metals (Flouride, Arsenic, Iron,
Lead, Cobalt, Uranium etc), pesticides and nitrates. High dissolved solids in water makes it to be less
thirst quenching and provides poor taste of food and beverages prepared using it. It clogs fish gills,
reduce freshness of water resulting in mass death of fishes and aquatic plants. Solids stayed in human
body cause stiffness in joints, arteries blockage, kidney and gall stones. A mere amount of 2.5 mg/l of
salt in water cause hypertension and salt contain affects crop production badly.
Fluorosis of bones and teeth is a crippling disease causing discoloration of teeth to the condition of a
youngster as an old man because of bones stiffness, it's happens due to of drinking of flouride
containing water. Lakhs of peoples becomes disabled due to flouride until yet.
Cancer of skin, lungs and liver, gangrene, hearing loss etc are arsenic diseases at just above 25 mg/l
dosage. It's also poisonous to animals and fishes. Excessive iron will boost the human body towards
ageing. Pesticides and other chemical compounds are sufficient to be cause every type of cancer - lung,
skin, brain, breast, pancreas, liver and prostate, Parkinson (over 10 lakh cases per year in India) and
birth defects in newborn babies.
Sewage from domestic use and industrial wastewater going untreated in freshwater and on land posses
heavy amount of organic impurities, oil and grease, detergents, acids and lots of chemicals. Oil is very
harmful for soil because it choke the soil pores, restricts flow in sewers and reduce fertility of soil.
Only one litre of oil can contaminate 10 Lakhs liters of freshwater. Organic pollutants are declining the
fish growth in water and making the rivers dead, it destructs nerve cells, disrupt immune and
reproductive system in humans. Certain pathogenic microorganisms are found in wastewater which
have potential for embossing numerous diseases likely typhoid, diarrhoea, infections, polio, hepatitis
etc.
A growing trend is practiced countrywide by farmers, they use raw sewage for crop harvesting. This
sewage is used to grow every kind of product namely vegetables, wheat, corn, rice, mustard etc.
Pollutants from sewage enters into the produced crops and will affect us through the food we eat, along
with this trend also expose farmers to risk of contamination as they work in contact with dirty sewage.
Water related diseases are so vulnerable that 15 lakhs of children below 05 years die annually due to
these diseases. 60 years of ill health per 1000 peoples are putative for environmental problems as
compared to 34 in China and 37 in Brazil. Currently about 1.47 crores of population are facing serious
health issues due to arsenic in groundwater and it killed one lakh people along with 2-3 lakhs of illness
cases.
On economic front, Our nation lost 3.95 % of GDP because of water related diseases, and estimation of
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog says; if situation will remain linearly with time, India will
loss 6 % of GDP by 2050. If India had taken the solid steps in tackling water pollution and sanitation problem
through building effluent treatment plants in small-medium-large scale industries, sewage treatment systems
in cities and towns, sanitation facilities and efficient water supply management, the necessary cost had
between 1.7 to 2.2 % of GDP.

Efforts to Combat
Everyday 14000 peoples are losing life due to water pollution and India lost nearly 4 % GDP due to
water contamination annually. These two lines are more than sufficient to tell us that how much
emergency situation is now, if the concrete decisions are not taken and implement the condition will
become more drastic. First step that should be taken is the participation of all stakeholders of society,
government at all levels of hierchy including Central Government, State Governments, Municipal
Corporations, Municipalities and Panchayats, NGOs, Educational Institutions etc should convey the
Message of Water to the people's of country and self-consciousness must be awaken within users for
saving the water and treating dirty water.
Water management is the key, water supply should be regulated and consider with more pace than
providing electricity at each location of India and optimal infrastructure for treating sewage before
discharge into nearby water bodies should be develop in decentralized way so that even a smaller pond
doesn't experience traces of pollutants.
Funds the Research and Development in the water supply, water use, water and wastewater treatment
for developing novel cost effective and highly efficient technologies. Government should initiate the
bachelor and master degree course in water and wastewater sector on mass level in institutions of
country for building a league of innovators, designers, engineers, managers.