Contamination, Pollution and Quality

Featured Articles
December 16, 2022 In this article, we will understand how the WQM course is continuing to influence the needs of learners that come from diverse backgrounds. The course model also offers core insights to many others who would like to engage in a virtual training program.
During a WQM course, a field team member from INREM facilitating a demonstration
September 9, 2022 Highlights from a new report released by iFOREST
An old coal-fired power plant has been dumping vast quantities of ash out in the open for many years. (Image: Lundrim Aliu/ World Bank; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
September 5, 2022 In an attempt to present a perspective on how rivers are used and abused, a map of the Bengaluru rivers illustrate how waste flows through natural river corridors, polluting the rivers and altering their status.
Vrishabhavathi river flow at Thagachguppe Bridge, Kumbalgodu (Image Source: Paani.Earth)
August 27, 2022 Study looks at microplastic types in lakes of Ladakh
(Vinay Goel, Wikimedia Commons)
August 19, 2022 Better access to clean water coupled with health education to bring about changes in behaviour are critical to prevent exposure to dangerous cholera bacteria that lurk in untreated waters.
The hidden threat of cholera in India (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
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)
Himalayan lakes can potentially become long-term sinks of microplastics
Study looks at microplastic types in lakes of Ladakh Posted on 27 Aug, 2022 03:36 PM

Microplastic pollution is a growing environmental concern. Microplastics are plastic particles with sizes ranging from 1 μm to 5 mm. However, a clear consensus on the definition of microplastics is lacking and even the lower size limit varies among different studies.

(Vinay Goel, Wikimedia Commons)
India creates history, sets up first floating water quality testing lab in the Indian Ocean
News this fortnight Posted on 26 Aug, 2022 09:46 AM

India launches a floating wet lab for water quality tests in the Indian Ocean

View of India Ocean at the southern tip of the country (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
Heavy metals being discharged into coastal waters
Assessing heavy metals in the coastal environment is a critical challenge Posted on 21 Aug, 2022 11:37 PM

In recent years, the impact of the wastes discharged in the Bay of Bengal has been significant due to high effluent inflow from secured sources. It was observed that the heavy metal concentrations in the Bay coast sediments were considerately high and varied among sampling points.

Heavy metal contamination causes significant harm to marine ecology and aquatic life, including humans (Image: Priyadarshi Chaudhuri)
Polluted water, hitchhiking microbes and the hidden threat of cholera in India
Better access to clean water coupled with health education to bring about changes in behaviour are critical to prevent exposure to dangerous cholera bacteria that lurk in untreated waters. Posted on 19 Aug, 2022 11:33 PM

Cholera outbreaks are frequent and steadily increasing in India, shows recent surveillance data.

The hidden threat of cholera in India (Image Source: IWP Flickr photos)
Heavy metal contamination in the sediments of the Brahmaputra river
Study indicates an intermediate silicate weathering in the adjoining area Posted on 16 Aug, 2022 10:11 AM

The river Brahmaputra carries around 73 million tons of dissolved material annually, which accounts for approximately 4% of the total dissolved flux into the oceans (Singh et al., 2005). The dissolved chemical load and sediment flux of the Brahmaputra River has significantly higher rates of physical and chemical weathering than other large Himalayan catchments.

(Image: Rita Willaert, Flickr Commons)
Arsenic removal in groundwater
Use of low-cost Biosand filters and ceramic pot filters such as JalKalp and MatiKalp developed by Sehgal Foundation are greatly effective and promising options in providing sustainable solutions for arsenic removal in the country. Posted on 12 Aug, 2022 11:14 PM

Safe drinking water, a global concern

The safety and accessibility of drinking water is a global concern. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that 80 percent of diseases are waterborne. Contamination from the geological formations (termed geogenic contamination) is the major source of groundwater contamination.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater, a growing probelm in India (Image Source: India Water Portal)
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 Posted on 11 Aug, 2022 10:59 AM

Agricultural intensification in India has increased nitrogen pollution, leading to water quality impairments. The fate of reactive nitrogen applied to the land is largely unknown, however. Long-term records of riverine nitrogen fluxes are nonexistent and drivers of variability remain unexamined, limiting the development of nitrogen management strategies.

Around the world, more than a fifth of nitrogen released by human activity ends up in aquatic ecosystems (Image: Wikimedia Commons)
Willingness to pay for arsenic-safe drinking water
A case study to understand societal embedding of electrochemical arsenic remediation technology in rural West Bengal Posted on 22 Jul, 2022 09:35 PM

Lack of access to safe drinking water is a daunting development challenge and a quarter of individuals globally do not have access to safe drinking water in their homes.

Tubewell reported to have arsenic contamination (Image: India Water Portal Flickr)
Poisoned waters of Delhi
This study found a high concentration of trihalomethanes (THMs) in water treatment plants in Delhi that were associated with increased risk of cancer. Posted on 20 Jul, 2022 02:34 PM

Provision of safe drinking water continues to be a challenge in developing countries and microbial contamination of water can lead to a number of waterborne diseases. Studies in India show that access to tap water may not guarantee that it is safe to drink.

What's in your tap water (Image Source: India Water Portal)
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 Posted on 14 Jul, 2022 07:01 PM

River Ichamati is venerated as a living entity and its fertile flood plains have been catering to the expanding human-mediated demands apart from harbouring an enormous assemblage of aquatic flora and fauna.

Illegal transverse check dams (Badhals) built on Ichamati near a village in Basirhat (Image: Prithviraj Nath @ TheWaterChronicles)
×