Rivers, lakes, ocean, and groundwater are increasingly getting polluted because of the discharge of pollutants in these water bodies and the lack of any treatment to remove the harmful compounds.

Water pollution negatively affects not only aquatic animals and plants, but it also affects human beings and ecosystems.

Causes of water pollution in India

There are many different reasons for water pollution in India. The causes of water pollution in points to some specific reasons are described here in this article:

Urbanization

One of the main reasons for water pollution in India is uncontrolled urbanization. The rate of urbanization has shot up at a fast pace in the last ten years or so, but even then, it has left a prominent mark on India’s aquatic resources. This has led to various environmental issues in the long term like depletion of water supply, generation, and collection of wastewater, to name a few of them.

Industry Waste

Most Indian rivers and other freshwater sources are polluted by industrial effluents or waste products. All these industrial wastes are highly toxic to life forms that ingest this water. The total wastewater generated from all large industrial sources is 83,048 MId, which is inclusive of 66,700 Mid of cooling water generated from thermal power plants.

Agricultural Runoff and Wrong Agricultural Practices

Traces of pesticides and fertilizers get into the nearest water-bodies at the onset of the rainy season or whenever there are heavy showers. As the point of entry of such agricultural inputs is spread throughout the river basin, this type of pollution is known as non-point sources of pollution. Even though irrigation has increased considerably in the country, very little has been to handle the problem of the high salinity return water.

Withdrawal of Water

Indian rivers, especially the Himalayan Rivers, have the most amount of water in their upper course. However, when they enter the plain areas, they get depleted of water. Irrigation canals take away the water very soon after the rivers reach the plains, and so the rivers do not have water left in the middle and lower courses.

Eventually rivers flowing in the plains receive only water that trickles in from  small and tiny streams and drains that contain untreated effluents and sewage. The river then flows down stream with little or no freshwater unless there is a large river that makes up for the depleted flows.

Religious and Social Practices

Religious faith and social practices are also one of the causes of river pollution in India. Carcasses of cows and other animals are disposed of in the rivers. Dead bodies are cremated on the banks of rivers. Partially burnt bodies are also thrown into the river. All this is done as part of religious faith and to follow the ancient religious rituals. However, these practices pollute the water of the rivers and have a negative impact on water quality.

Now that you know, how water gets polluted, you can try and do your bit to prevent this from happening. Save our rivers and save water.

Some other reasons for increasing level of water pollution in India

• Water Quantity reduction in rivers in Plains area.
• In India Social and religious practices like bathing, throwing waste in water, dumping dead bodies in water.
• Leaks oil from Ships
• Acid Rain
• Industrial wastage
• Global warming Increase
• Informal practices in agricultural sector
• Eutrophication
• Inadequate industrial treatment of wastes
• Denitrification