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)
Application of Composite Correction Program for improvement in efficiency of water treatment plants - A WHO paper
Safe drinking water, sanitation, water purification, secured supply, are all unchecked on goals' checklist; emphasizing on the need of intricate tools and plans and their implementation. Posted on 20 Apr, 2011 12:41 AM

The goal of safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation has not yet been achieved. The current practices of water purification are inadequate to produce secured water supply. Maintaining health protection at water supply systems has become more challenging with resistance of some pathogens to disinfection using chlorination and an increase in the immuno-compromised population (e.g., people with HIV, organ transplant patients, the elderly).

In this context, it has become essential to develop various tools such as Composite Correction Programme (CCP) and Water Safety Plans (WSP) to improve water purification and distribution systems, to achieve the goal of providing safe drinking water.

Assessing acute Gastroenteritis risks associated with water quality and sanitation in Hyderabad city - A paper by the Institute of Health Systems (IHS)
The quality of drinking water is a vital element of public health and well-being. The most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply is through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer. Posted on 19 Apr, 2011 11:35 PM

The quality of drinking water is a vital element of public health and well-being. The most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply is through the use of a comprehensive risk assessment and risk management approach that encompasses all steps in water supply from catchment to consumer.

WHO guidelines on water quality term these approaches as water safety plans (WSPs), developed to organize, systematize and apply management practices in drinking-water quality.

Vedanta’s red mud pond leaks into Vamsadhara river, Lanjigarh, Orissa - A Down To Earth report
Reports from Lanjigarh say a crack in the western part of the red mud pond of Vedanta Alumina refinery has leaked into the Vamsadhara river. Posted on 18 Apr, 2011 05:23 PM

This happened following a thunder burst on April 5.

According to Mahammad Ashlam of KBK Samachar, the local news agency, the downpour lasted 45 minutes and resulted in a huge run-off of the toxic waste into nearby water bodies from a crack in the pond wall of the one-million-tone refinery. Red mud or bauxite residue is a waste product of the alumina manufacturing process.

CPCB announces awards scheme for writing books in Hindi about pollution control and environmental planning and management (2011)
Posted on 15 Apr, 2011 01:24 AM

प्रदुषण नियंत्रण और पर्यावरण योजना एवं प्रबंधन से सम्बंधित विषयों पर हिंदी में मौलिक पुस्तक लेखन के लिए पुरस्कार योजना वर्ष - २०११

अधिक जानकारी के लिए, फाइल अटैचमेंट देखे:

Arsenic and chromium hyper-accumulation by an ecotype of Pteris vittata - Possibility of remediation of contaminated water and soil – A paper in Current Science
The remediation of arsenic and chromium contaminated soil and water has become an important environmental issue. Posted on 14 Apr, 2011 08:04 PM

Pteris vittataThis study by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute published in Current Science was carried out to identify Pteris vitta and test its hyper-accumulating properties. The plant is commonly known as the Ladder brake fern or Chinese brake fern plant in India, and had been reported elsewhere as an arsenic hyper-accumulator.

.The remediation of arsenic and chromium contaminated soil and water has become an important environmental issue. It is in this context that the discovery of hyper-accumulator plant species, which have the unusual ability of accumulating metals such as arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and copper (Cu) to very high concentrations, has further boosted technologies based on this property.

This is the first report of characterization of arsenic accumulation in an Indian ecotype (plant), which also shows chromium hyperaccumulation in addition to arsenic. Intact plantlets were grown in 20 per cent Hoagland solution amended with up to 200 mg arsenic or chromium medium. Plants absorbed and accumulated a significant amount of arsenic and chromium in their biomass with high bio-enrichment factor. Arsenic and chromium tolerance by spores and gametophytes under in-vitro was also assessed.

The 'arrogant neighbour' - Newly launched Udupi Power Corporation Limited commits gross environmental violations - A two-part report from The Manipal Journal
Ash produced after burning the ‘world’s dirtiest fuel’ found place in an erstwhile fresh-water lake. Low lying fields were water-logged under the hot summer sun. Posted on 14 Apr, 2011 10:47 AM


“Reddy” remedies - A look at the Satwant Reddy Committee report on the issue of pesticide residues in packaged drinking water and packaged natural mineral water - Article from Down to Earth magazine
BIS should have a core group of scientists from various fields to keep track of recent scientific and technical developments in critical areas. Posted on 14 Apr, 2011 10:28 AM

Satwant Reddy committee: Report of the committee on the pesticide residue in packaged drinking water and packaged natural mineral water.

Setting standards

Killing groundwater in Bangalore - Why this apathy?
The pollution of groundwater in Bangalore is death by institutional and legal apathy. Posted on 14 Apr, 2011 09:58 AM


Dissemination of NDM-1 positive bacteria in the New Delhi environment and its implications for human health - An environmental point prevalence study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases (2011)
This study measures the prevalence of NDM-1 β-lactamase-producing bacteria in the drinking water and seepage samples in New Delhi, India. Posted on 13 Apr, 2011 03:15 PM

 Plasmid-encoding Carbapenemase-resistant Metallo-B-Lactamase (PCM or NDM-1) is an enzyme that makes bacteria resistant, not only to a broad range of antibiotics such as carbapenems and other β-lactam, but also to multiple other antibiotic classes, leaving very few treatment options available, when a person gets infected with such bacteria.

Bio-remediation project announced for Buddha Nala, Ludhiana - MoEF Press release
This speaks of the use of in-situ bio remediation to restore the Buddha Nala in Ludhiana Posted on 13 Apr, 2011 11:14 AM

Following the invitation of Member of Parliament (Ludhiana) Mr. Manish Tewari, the Hon’ble Minister for Environment and Forests Mr. Jairam Ramesh along with officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forests including the Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board, visited the site of the Buddha Nala in Ludhiana, Punjab in September of 2010.

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