Biological Pollution

Featured Articles
August 11, 2022
India’s rivers in trouble due to high fertilizer load and heavy monsoons
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
Ichamati: River of poetry is dying a slow death
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
Transparent urban river pollution monitoring
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
Water can kill!
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
Biodiversity - crucial for survival of freshwater ecosystems!
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
East Kolkata Wetlands – fast turning death traps for aquatic ecosystems?
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)
Slum dwellers in Delhi to get individual water connections
News this week
Aarti Kelkar-Khambete
Posted on 06 Sep, 2016 09:19 AM

DJB to give individual water connections in slums

Access to drinking water, a basic human right. (Source: IWP flicker photos)
Water warriors at work
Citizens come forward to restore polluted lakes and rivers in their cities. They demand support and swift action from the government.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 24 Aug, 2016 09:31 AM

The pitiful state of some of the water bodies in the country, coupled with the sheer apathy of the government, have forced some well-meaning citizens to come out of their comfort zones and make a difference. Some of these efforts, like the Puttenahalli lake in Bengaluru that is now overflowing with clean water, have been successful, while others are ongoing.
Citizens of Udaipur get together to remove water hyacinth from the Pichhola lake.
Riverbed off limits, farmers fume
With the sewage-fed vegetable cultivation on Yamuna riverbed banned, the farmers are worried about their livelihood.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 01 Aug, 2016 08:23 PM

Champa Devi has been working as a sharecropper on a two-acre farm at Nilothi village in west Delhi. Until a few years ago, the water she used for irrigation came from the Najafgarh drain that empties into the Yamuna river. This form of cultivation using waste water was a norm in the area till sometime ago.
Thousands of farmers like Champa Devi (in pic) who were growing edible crops or doing fodder cultivation on the riverbed and its floodplains took the brunt of the court’s decision.
Thanks to dirty water, Indian children stunted
News this week
Swati Bansal
Posted on 30 Jul, 2016 11:39 PM

India has largest number of stunted children in the world: Study
Stunting in children highest in India. (Source: IWP Flickr Photos)
State does a Nero while Kharun weeps
Despite the pitiable state of a polluted Kharun, the government is keen on developing the riverfront to attract tourists.
Makarand Purohit
Posted on 18 Jul, 2016 09:30 AM

At sunrise, everything is luminous but not clear. 

― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
Kharun river at Mahadev Ghat, Raipur.
Subarnarekha is dying. Who’s responsible?
The pitiful state of Subarnarekha stands testimony to the changing times. The river is being slowly killed by the greed of the rich and the apathy of the powerful.
Amita Bhaduri
Posted on 28 May, 2016 05:46 PM

It would not be an exaggeration to say Subarnarekha (Line of gold) is a film that left an indelible mark on Indian cinema. The film, by Ritwik Ghatak, is inspired by a river by the same name and narrates the reality around the river which flows through the present day Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha, before draining into the Bay of Bengal.
India’s steel city dumps its waste into Subarnarekha, the river of gold
Changing seasons and diarrhoeal diseases
This study in urban and rural areas of Vellore, Tamil Nadu found that seasonal fluctuations had an effect on water quality and diarrhoeal disease risk.
Alexandra V. Kulinkina et al
Posted on 19 May, 2016 09:07 AM

Access to safe drinking water and diarrhoeal diseases in India
Water quality, seasonality and diarrhoeal diseases (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Copper and silver vessels are age-old bacteria killers
A study found that water stored in glass, plastic and ceramic containers, and coconut shells did not show a reduction in coliform bacteria.
Ravichandran Packiyam
Subha Kananan
Sugumaran Pachaiyappan and Unnamalai Narayanan
Posted on 21 Apr, 2016 09:42 AM

About 3 million children from developing countries below the age of 5 die every year due to diarrhoeal diseases caused by polluted water, poor san
Household drinking water and coliforms (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Alarm bells ring for Delhi’s groundwater
The city's old wells and baodis are running dry, and the Yamuna is getting more polluted by the day. Where is Delhi's water going to come from when groundwater levels are also dropping?
Amita Bhaduri
Bhim Singh Rawat
Posted on 25 Jan, 2016 01:19 PM

Delhi, home to 16.75 million people, is in the grip of a major water crisis. Statistics by the Delhi Jal Board for the year 2011 suggest that the water deficit stands at about 250 million gallons per day with the supply being 830 million gallons per day.
Residents say they are forced to flout the groundwater extraction norms with illegal groundwater pumps in Narela in North-west Delhi due to insufficient and poor quality of water supplied.
Water filter use in India: Safety, luxury or a threat to the environment?
Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) share the findings of a study on water filter use in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and discuss its implications in India's overall context.
Aarti Kelkar-Khambete
Posted on 04 Dec, 2015 07:49 AM

Safe drinking water, a scarce resource (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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