Biological Pollution

Featured Articles
August 11, 2022 This could lead to water quality crisis reinforcing the need for basin-specific management strategies
Around the world, more than a fifth of nitrogen released by human activity ends up in aquatic ecosystems (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
July 14, 2022 The river is faced with the dual problem of flood plain encroachment and growing levels of water pollution
Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
May 25, 2022 A study develops a decision support tool to identify polluted river stretches
Ulhas river near Khandpe village (Image: Ganesh Dhamodkar, Wikimedia Commons)
November 12, 2021 Mass fish deaths can pose a challenge to the environment, biodiversity and fisherfolk who depend on them for their livelihoods. Why do they happen?
Algal blooms in a pond in Tamil Nadu (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
August 4, 2021 Detritivores, scavenger organisms inhabiting freshwater bodies such as streams are crucial for the survival of water bodies. However, anthropogenic changes are killing them!
View of a s stream in Kerala (Image Source: Firos AK via Wikimedia Commons)
June 24, 2021 Freshwater ecosystems in India are known to harbour rich biodiversity, but their health is being increasingly challenged in recent years. And the East Kolkata Wetlands are no exception!
Fishermen use wastewater from Kolkata to rear fish (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Holy waters, unholy outcomes!
A study found that mass bathing events in the Kshipra river not only led to high pollution, but also to the presence of multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria in its waters, posing a risk to health. Posted on 28 Aug, 2020 05:52 PM

Rivers are revered and considered holy since times immemorial in India and mass bathing in some rivers is an age-old ritual. A holy dip and a holy sip of the river waters are considered to be a highly purifying. But is the dip really cleansing at all when almost all the rivers in India are known to be highly polluted?

A priest offers water to the sun at Ramghat on the Kshipra river at Simhastha (Image Source: Makarand Purohit)
Locals struggle with WASH issues post-Amphan
Cyclone Amphan wreaks havoc in the Sunderbans at a time when the country was already battling a large spread of Covid-19. Posted on 17 Aug, 2020 12:17 PM

UN’s recognition of safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right recently hit a decade and this makes us ponder even more about the situation in the Sundarbans after the Amphan cyclone. The destruction caused by Amphan in the Sundarbans poses a massive threat to the very right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation of the people living there.

Having no source of water is proving to be extremely difficult for the people living in the Sundarbans. (Image: WaterAid, Subhrajit Sen)
India-UK team tackles antimicrobial resistance spread in waterways
Experts are joining forces to investigate the impact that releasing antibiotics from antibiotic manufacturing into India’s waterways has on the spread of potentially fatal drug-resistant infections. Posted on 07 Aug, 2020 11:30 AM

An estimated 58,000 babies die in India every year from superbug infections passed on from their mothers, whilst drug-resistant pathogens cause between 28,000 to 38,000 extra deaths in the European Union every year.

The Musi river in Hyderabad, which has high concentrations of antibiotics released from production facilities (Image: Newcastle University)
When solving one problem triggers another
Use of guppy fish to control mosquito populations in water bodies has given rise to another problem - that of its negative impact on native freshwater diversity. Posted on 06 Aug, 2020 06:56 PM

Come monsoons and vector borne diseases start making headlines every year in many parts of India, especially mosquito borne diseases like dengue, malaria, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis.

What are vector borne diseases

Guppies for mosquito control (Image Source: Rchampagne via Wikimedia Commons)
Reinventing waste management during Covid-19
There is an urgent need to revamp our municipal waste management systems. Posted on 11 Jul, 2020 10:19 PM

India stares at a Covid-19 induced waste management crisis and there is a need to strengthen waste management services. An important sanitary barrier to prevent the dissemination of illnesses and diseases, waste management’s impact on the world’s healthcare systems, and the economy are significant.

A lab technician discarding disposable gloves (Image: CDC/Kimberly Smith, Christine Ford acquired from Public Health Image Library)
Water fleas can warn of water pollution!
Water fleas, tiny organisms found in water can help save rivers! Read this interview with freshwater biologist, Dr Sameer Padhye, to know how. Posted on 02 Jul, 2020 07:29 PM

Water fleas are small crustaceans widely found in varied aquatic habitats. They are very sensitive to changes in the water quality of water bodies such as rivers and streams that they inhabit.

Water fleas can warn of water pollution (Image Source: Sameer Padhye)
Covid-19 threatens to worsen India's water crisis
Regulations for water use, innovation for treating antimicrobial resistance and monitoring of infected plastic leakage needs to be prioritised to curtail the water crisis. Posted on 24 May, 2020 12:50 AM

While the world has got a reprieve from pollution with emerging wildlife, cleaner air and clearer water bodies during lockdown, Covid-19 might actually be worsening the present water crisis in an inconspicuous manner. The world is still developing more clarity on safeguards that can prevent transmission, treatment and post treatment complications.

Marine litter. Plastic bottles on a beach. (Image: Bo Eide, Flickr Commons; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Will access to piped water ensure safe water in India?
A study from Maharashtra found that piped water supply did not ensure access to safe water. Intermittent water supply and poor sanitation triggered water contamination and antibiotic resistance. Posted on 09 May, 2020 02:35 PM

While Covid-19 has brought forth the need for better access to water for WASH practices to the forefront, how India plans to bring water at the doorstep through the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) continues to be a challenge. This is especially in the context of not only access but also quality of the available water.

Safe drinking water, a major challenges for India (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Global infections from water poised to rise with climate change
As climate change handshakes water contamination, we pass by very much uncertain times. Posted on 24 Apr, 2020 04:11 PM

Climate change triggered heat waves threaten water availability

Ninjallama rues as she remembers, " It was a terrible summer. The heat wave was killing. Three people died in my village. People with skeletal fluorosis suffered .. "

Water contamination, a growing concern (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Gearing to overcome water quality woes
A workshop highlights the need to give a boost to affordable household water treatment and storage technologies. Posted on 21 Apr, 2020 05:22 PM

India has the most people in the world without access to safe drinking water (133.9 million). Many studies indicate that poor and marginalized populations are the worst affected from waterborne diseases resulting from the consumption of contaminated water.

HWTS solutions are best suited for villages (Image: WaterAid)
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