OveeGore
Research regarding the crisis
Let's start with the biggest water source in India. The Ganges river provides water to 400 million people. Because of this, and it’s massive length, it is important to evaluate how the water in the Ganges is mismanaged, to get to the root causes of water contamination in India. The river flows from northern India in the Himalayas, to western India in the Bay of Bengal. Along the way the water gets contaminated by abuse from residents nearby, and ultimately leads to a variety of life threatening poisoning. In Haridwar, a city located 157 miles from the origin site of the Ganges in the Himalayas, a Hindu holiday is celebrated every 12 years, causing hundreds of millions of Hindus to flock to this site and bathe in the Ganges. Untreated water is discharged from mismanagement of a sewage treatment plant located in the city, as well as from many little drains from residential areas. The water is unfit for bathing, yet many Hindus continue regardless, because the river is regarded as sacred. Another city, Kanpur, home to 4 million people, also misuses the Ganges. 350 tanneries in the city produce mass amounts of industrial waste, including sulfurous gases, that are dumped directly into the ganges.
A creamation site in Varanasi
It is known that the main causes of the water crisis are; open defecation near water lines, poor infrastructure, industrial waste dumping in major water sources, sewage run-off into water resources, and lack of education on proper sanitary uses and storage of water. The biggest issue is that the water that India does possess is misallocated and mismanaged. India needs to manage where it’s water goes, and how it is utilized. Currently, India is the biggest exporter of water in the world. This is because all of India’s agricultural exports contain mass quantities of water, such as rice, sugarcane, and cotton. While 21 cities are relying on water imports to keep its citizens alive, India is exporting ground water in the form of crops to prosper the economy. 70% of India’s agricultural water comes from groundwater. In Chennai, 79% of the water is directed towards agricultural purposes while only 11% goes for domestic usage. A third of India’s population lives in cities, and yet 90% of freshwater is used for agriculture. Comparing this to 44% in Nigeria, another water stressed country, clearly priorities are misplaced. This skewness towards money is represented in who controls water management. Farmers who have access to local groundwater are in fact large scale powerful rural business owners who have the ability to finance pumping equipment. This is a major concern. The idea of rich private companies being able to direct groundwater for an economical benefit tip the scale so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. A resource as scarce and valuable as water should not be in the hands of private trustees with their own money-making agendas.
In water available to the people, waterborne disease spreads rapidly, especially in areas where a contaminated water source is their only choice of usage. 37.7 million individuals in India are affected by waterborne diseases annually. There are a multitude of dangers that are spread through contaminated water. The major and most deadly being diarrheal diseases. These diseases can be fatal and advance rapidly if left untreated. This form of diseases can be caused by various parasitic, viral, and bacterial organisms, and affects 200,000 children under 5 each year. Some of the most common of these diseases are: Cholera, Giardiasis, Amoebiasis, and Bacillary dysentery. Along with these diseases, other infections such as Typhoid and Paratyphoid can be spread. However, aside from the obvious dangerous microorganism contamination, another equally as damaging source is killing many each day. Chemical poisoning. Chemicals such as arsenic, fluoride, and nitrates are dumped in rivers, ponds, and seep into groundwater, leading to massive amounts of chemical poisoning. Bodies of water in New Delhi, India’s capital, emmett white clouds of froth from industrial waste effluents and domestic garbage
Analyzing arsenic poisoning, as well as how the government has dealt with this issue, is helpful. Arsenic is one of the most deadly chemical poisonings in India, affecting mostly the east of the nation. As a slow killer, arsenic degrades the organs one by one in the years 5-12 after exposure. In the state of Bihar, more than 10 million people are said to be affected by arsenic poisoning from the groundwater. Many Indians are dependent on groundwater from wells that were built due to contaminated surface water. The cause of arsenic poisoning stems from the overuse of groundwater irrigation from drinking. The overuse changes the chemistry in the aquifer, and arsenic, the previously harmless chemical, merges with iron and forms arsenopyrite, which leads to poisoning when ingested. The people who obtain this poisoning get it from their wells and pumps in their villages that distribute the groundwater to its citizens. These people are neither educated on the dangers of the poison nor have an alternative water source. Various solutions have tried to be implemented in the past, but India’s fundamental problems always seem to get in the way. In the 1970’s surface water contamination was leading to too many diarrheal diseases in the country. In response to this, UNICEF built shallow groundwater wells in an attempt to get people to stop drinking contaminated surface water. At the time, it seemed like the perfect solution. It was cheap and easy to maintain, and attacked the root of the issue. An estimated 10 million hand pump tube wells were drilled all over the country by the government, UNICEF, and NGO organizations. In theory, the solution was good, cases of diseases such as cholera began to decline in localized villages. However, in the next decade, millions of arsenic poisoning cases began to emerge. The arsenic, slowly broken down by oxygen-seeking bacteria, was poisoning millions. Many NGO organizations and donors feel as though the issue is too big for them to tackle. It also seems as though the technology is not the problem it is the cooperation and implementation. The arsenic problem had been given a clear cut solution by engineers and geologists. Deeper wells, were the key to safe water. These wells accompanied with central filtration plants for the surface water has proved successful in the areas in which it has been implemented. Wells deeper than 500 feet and complex filtration systems however are no small undertaking, and it requires all hands on deck, and full cooperation from anyone and everyone who can be of assistance. Dr. Kazi Matin Ahmed, the chairman in the department of geology, states that the government has most of the resources to address the problem. In 2016, a plan was proposed that cost 250 million dollars. However, the plan failed to be addressed by the government, and it is clear that arsenic poisoning is not of priority, as politicians have promised to address it before, to no avail. A report from human right’s watch states that it appears as though the wells necessary to rid an area of arsenic poisoning, are going to politically connected villages only. Privately, senior government officials admit that local government political corruption determines who gets wells and therefore who gets to live. With so much disconnect in the levels of government and pockets of corruption filling these divides, little hope is seen on unifying the nation to address issues as large as water contamination.This raises a scary question about the value of human life in India. It is clear that those in need are manipulated for political agendas, that way politicians can keep the weak and vulnerable under their thumb when it is voting time. Only those who can actually aid the politicians in this corrupt system are kept alive and healthy, so that they claim the issue is being fixed. Currently available solutions such as improved sanitation and water filtration systems need mass amounts of government support and funding if they will ever continue to be successful and available to everyone. The only way this will happen is if no one has their own personal agendas in politics and the nation’s people’s well being is prioritized. The government also needs to fund educational programs to teach those who are illiterate and those of the lower class how to use these new technologies and why they are so important to treat carefully. Educational programs need to teach people why they should not dump their waste near water sources, but also provide them with alternative safe ways to dispose of their waste. The people of these poverty ridden villages either know that what they are doing is contaminating water, but have no other alternative, or do not understand the implications of their actions. This is why both educational programs and safe alternatives for waste management, sanitation, and water filtration are necessary for success and one cannot succeed without the other. In the village of Batachow, UNICEF installed a piped water facility that used a central filtration plant. As a result, this village, which was completely contaminated, now had safe water for everyone to use. UNICEF provided the initial funding, around 50,000 U.S. dollars. However, now the government must provide maintenance fees. Neither the government nor public health organizations seem to intervene, and many solutions provided by organizations like UNICEF go crumbling, leaving people dying once again. The government National water policy needs to outline specifically money set aside for building better infrastructure as well maintenance of these systems. The Most important thing, the government needs to outline exactly how local and state officials are expected to execute water management and they need to be 100% accountable to higher powers, essentially, to kill corruption. The only way to get rid of corruption is to eliminate personal gain, get rid of private trustees who have the money and power to control groundwater resources and direction. If the government cannot collaboratively aid its people, then what are foreigners going to do? Along with this saddening aspect, foreign NGOs and donors claim that India has much larger issues to deal with Health, Education, Child Trafficking, Malnutrition, to name a few.
Ganges on a map:
source http://www.geologypage.com/2015/01/ganges-river.html
A murky area where trash was collecting
Waste such as animal carcasses are dumped into the river. Further down the river is Varanasi, considered the spiritual home to 330 million hindu gods and goddesses, and a religiously significant city for Hindus. As a result of this many hindus choose to be cremated here. In December, I visited this city, to see with my own eyes the pollution that exists there. Hindu’s believe that cremation in this city will grant them eternal salvation, and as a result, millions of bodies are cremated, their ashes dumped directly in the ganges. I witnessed around 20 bodies per hour being cremated on the banks of the river, during boat transportation, we would pass cow carcasses floating in the water, pools of trash, mostly religious waste such as flower garlands and coconuts. The run off from the roads of the city contain cow manure, and heaps of trash. And yet, on every available space in the river bank, people were bathing and bottling this water. Poor families who cannot afford cremation place their deceased loved ones directly in the water. Babies and women are frequently also placed without cremation due to their purity. Poor sewage infrastructure, results in most of the waste from this city ending up in the river, some that you can see and some that you can’t. The Ganges is a relevant primary example that illustrates how India’s population mismanages their water, and how the overpopulation makes it difficult.
Slums in Varanasi
Source: https://www.123rf.com/photo_77990849_panorama-of-indian-city-rooftops-india-varanasi-landscape-benares-cityscape-roof-panorama-of-indian-.html
Trash and Rubble in the City
Chemical effluents in the Ganges
Source: https://www.gangaaction.org/actions/issues/industrial-waste-management/
For this very reason, building a new water filtration device is not the answer. The answer, and means of executing that answer lies in the hands of power, in the government. The water policy is seriously lacking providing an effective framework to give everyone in the country this simple yet imperative resource. The government is failing its people, the rich grow richer, and the poor are dying. There are engineers and geologists out there who have devised a diverse array of solutions that would save the lives of millions each year. The issue lies in the policy, and the implementation of this policy. The pockets of the government that are corrupt, the mass amount of illiteracy in the nation, and little respect for human life and water scarcity are all the main causes of the delay in cleaning India’s water. In a country of over 1 billion people and rising, 287 million of which are illiterate, where 1,652 different mother tongues are spoken with 750 different dialects, and an immense polarity between rich and poor, it is hard to decide which issue to tackle first, and how to address one without collapsing the other. Water is a human right. The government has a responsibility to deliver safe water to all of its people, and for this the policy needs to change.
