How Groundwater Contamination is Fuelling Chronic Illnesses

How Groundwater Contamination is Fuelling Chronic Illnesses

More than 85% of rural drinking water and 65% of irrigation in India depends upon groundwater which is considered as the most pure form of natural reserve. But uncontrolled mining and industrial effluents, as well as the overloading of the river with discharged water and residues by agricultural activities have turned it into a vehicle of toxic chemicals, heavy metals and communicable diseases. This silent epidemic is causing chronic diseases to break out nationally and water safety has become as central an issue as water availability.

Key Points for RAS Mains

Major pollutants and health effects

• Fluoride: Affects 230 districts and 20 States; causes dental and skeletal fluorosis; more than 66 million populations.
• Arsenic: Gangetic belt the worst hit; causes skin lesions, cancer and organ destruction; concentrations of parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh 4,000 times higher than WHO standards.
• Nitrates: Occurs in 56% of districts; results in infant mortality by turning the baby blue through development of blue baby syndrome.
• Uranium: Increasing in part because of an over withdrawal of groundwaters and excessive fertiliser application; causes kidney damage.
• Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Mercury heavy metals: Lead to neurological damage, anaemia, delays at a developmental age.
• Sewage leakage pathogens: Cause frequent epidemics of cholera, hepatitis A, E, dysentery.

Case Examples

• Budhpur, Baghpat (U.P.): Death record due to renal ailment caused by industry effluents in bore wells.
• Ballia(U.P.): More than 10,000 arsenic-related cancerous incidents.
• Paikarapur (Bhubaneswar): 500+ individuals are sick due to pollution of sewage into the groundwater.

Structural Causes of Crisis

• Institutional Fragmentation: there are a number of agencies (CGWB, CPCB, SPCBs, Ministry of Jal Shakti) that operate in silos and have neither integrated frameworks nor plans.
• Poor legal enforcement: The Water Act, 1974 barely provides any group water pollution; there are very little checks of compliance.
• Failure to have real-time data: Low levels of monitoring, lack of public access to alerts of contamination, poor connection with health surveillance.
• Over-pumping: Dries up aquifers, and concentrates geogenic toxins.
• Industrial and Agricultural Runoff: Overuse of fertiliser and unclean effluents are all directly introduced into ground water.

Way Forward

Regulatory & Policy measures

• Introduce a National Groundwater Pollution Control Framework that is given statutory powers.
• Enhance CGWB powers; give SPCBs technical capability.
• Regulate in order to mandate industrial pre-treatment of effluents prior to disposal.

Technological / Infrastructure Solutions

• Erect real time water quality monitors with associated public health analytical stations.
• Encourage remediation technologies (defluoridation, arsenic filters, phytoremediation).

Health promoting interventions

• Examine high-risk groups regarding exposure to toxins.
• Infuse secure local community water supply at contamination hotspots.
• Nutritional supplementation in order to reduce the effects of fluoride and heavy metals.

Engagement of Community & Citizen

• Village level groundwater literacy programmes.
• Maps and alerts of contamination available to the general population.
• Borewell safety by citizens who monitor.

Conclusion

The position has changed in India as well where the ground water crisis has changed to quality instead of its quantity. It is a creeping, unseen, halting contamination that is frequently irreversible, a health toll that is devastating. It requires a timely and synchronised, multi-sectoral response that involves environmental control, health system, and citizen engagement. Clean water should not be treated as some environmental target, but rather as a pillar of the society or the health of a given population, an economic item, and a form of intergenerational equity.