WATER QUALITY AND WATER POLLUTION PROBLEMS ON THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT pptx

The quality of surface waters in major part of the year is good with salinity being low to moderate, but in many cases due to discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents, the

on the Indian sub-continent

B K HANDA

Central Chemical Laboratory, 4, Sapru Marg, Lucknow-226001, India

ABSTRACT The quality of water on the Indian sub-continent varies both in space and time The studies on the chemical composition of rainwater at several locations in India have revealed that except at Calcutta and Bombay, where acid rainfall has actually been recorded, the pH of rainwater is normally above 6.0 Studies on rainwater at Lucknow has revealed that the trace metal contents are normally low The quality of surface waters in major part of the year is good with salinity being low to moderate, but in many cases due to discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents, the quality of stream water has deteriorated and at times fish mortality has been reported Many of the fresh

water lakes like the Dal, the Wular, the Naini Tal, the Kolleru etc are in a state of

decadence Marine pollution off the coast of Bombay has been reported The quality of ground water also varies considerably Apart from salinity problems in some parts of India, ground waters with high F or high Fe content are also encountered Pollution of ground waters by plant nutrients, through return irrigation flows occurs widely, At places due to infiltration of industrial waste effluents, ground waters with high Cr and/or high CN concentrations are also encountered

Introduction

Water is put to numerous uses by man These uses include inter alia domestic, agricultural, livestock watering, industrial, sports and recreation Apart from natural factors, the quality of water in an area may also be affected by contributions from anthropogenic sources The release of waste gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere by various industries, release of waste industrial effluents & sewage into water courses and/or on land etc have added new dimensions to the water quality aspects The unscientific use of synthetic fertilizers, coupled with improper water management practices have resulted in deterioration of ground water quality in many parts or the Indian sub-continent Over-pumping of ground water in the coastal tracts of Gujarat, has resulted in progressive intrusion of saline water, with consequent degradation of water quality

Atmospheric pollution

Anthropogenic activities release both gaseous and particulate material into the atmosphere Burning of wood, cow dung, fossil fules, garbage etc releases both gaseous and to some extent particulate material to the atmosphere To this must

be added the waste gases and aerosol particles released by the various industries viz the cement industry, the iron & steel industry, the petrochemical and fertilizer plants, and the coal fired thermal plants etc

The released gases include CO3, CHy, oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, NH3,

314 B K Handa

H;S, Cl, etc Similarly several metallic constituents like Fe, Mn, Ag, Cu, Zn

etc are also released to the atmosphere in varying amounts In 1983, the

consumption of coal in India exceeded 100 million tonnes, while crude oil

consumption was over 30 million tonnes It is estimated that these two sources

combined together have released over 3 million tonnes of sulphurous gases to

the atmosphere The dissolution of some of the released gases in rainwater can

cause the phenomenon of acid rain, at least in areas where their emission

density is high The studies carried out by the author (Handa, 1969) has

revealed that the phenomenon of acid rains is likely to be confined to important

metropolitan industrial areas like Calcutta and Bombay etc Table 1 gives the

chemical composition of acid rain recorded at Calcutta (Handa 1969, 1983)

Table 1, Chemical composition of acid rain over Calcutta in 1967

Date of pH Na K Ca Mg HCO; Cl SO, NO;

collection (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l)

9.9.1967 4.80 1.31 014 3.00 O18 415 1.50 3.59 1.90

9.9.1967 320 047 003 1.69 0.24 3.00 1.00 3.60 ~

10.9.1967 3500 1.68 013 0.60 0.02 1.00 0.75 3.00 0.16

11.9.1967 4.45 095 013 0.32 001 tr 0.50 1.50 0.05

Recently Zutshi et al (1978) have reported an average pH value of 4.80 for

monsoon rains over Bombay

Little work has been carried out on trace metal concentrations in rain water

over India Data by Handa et al (1983) for Lucknow is given in Table 2

Table 2 Trace metals in rain water over Lucknow and in some other countries

meter

(ug/l) 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 Stock- Drott- Urban Rural

holm — ningholm

Ag 035 0.72 0.41 053 1.59 - = - -

Cu 4.30 3.78 3.09 19.4 5.54 6.4 9 23 16

Zn 14.50 14.50 9.76 10.4 14.6 - 311 85 62

Cd 0.36 0.07 019 0.00 0.03 el 7 TT =

Mn = = 2.45 2.44 4.84 3.8 5 8.1 0.5

Fe = = 26.5 30.9 43.0 11 2.6 200 238

Comparison of the data quoted by Jefferies & Snyder (1981) for some west

European countries (Table 2) shows that Pb, Zn and Cd contents in Lucknow

rains are quite low

Water pollution problems in India 315

Surface water pollution

With increase in human and livestock population, the quantum of wastes produced in India has increased considerably Table 3 gives the estimated annual waste production from these sources in India (Vimal & Talashilkar, 1983)

Table 3 Estimated annual animal wastes produced in India in terms of N, P and K

Source Quan- N PạO; K;O Source Quan- N PaO; KạO

(million tonnes) (million tonnes)

Cattle dung City refuse 15.0 0.12 0.08 0.09 and urine 1225 2.98 0.79 1.35 Night soil 30.3 0.39 0.24 0.15

Buffalo dung Urine 274.1 0.30 0.004 0.01

and urine 437 0.75 0.28 0.49 Other

Goat and sheep 20 0.21 0.06 0.02 animals 22.7 0.20 0.16 0.12 dung and urine

The average chemical composition of sewage in some major cities of India is given in Table 4 (Mishra, 1979; Dakshini & Soni, 1979)

Table 4 Average sewage composition of some cities in India

Parameter Lucknow Kanpur Madras Nagpur Delhi

Total solids 800 1500 1700 1200 650 525

Susp solids 300 600 500 200 = _

Since most of the cities situated along the banks of the streams do not have any sewage treatment facilities, the release of sewage into rivers can pollute the river water Even in Delhi, which has got a sewage treatment plant, over 100 million gallons of untreated sewage is discharged into the Yamuna river In fact according to the latest Health Statistics (1982) around 11 million persons in India suffered from various water borne diseases, of which 11234 died The diseases included typhoid, infective hepatitis, cholera, dysentry and gastro- enteritis

Apart from pollution from animal wastes referred to above, the industries too release waste effluents either directly into streams or into drains/channels which join the streams, resulting in degradation of water quality Table 5 gives the

316 B K Handa

Table 5 Status of effluent treatment plants in some states of India (E.T = Effluent treatment)

State Industries State Industries

Total E.T plants Total E.T plants

Jammu & Kashmir 3 1 Gujarat 389 68

Madhya Pradesh 119 108 Haryana 110 16

Uttar Pradesh 102 47 Karnataka 165 142

Union Territories 136 36 All States 1709 711

status of some major industries in different states having effluent treatment plants

Thus only 42% of the major industries in India have got effluent treatment plants In addition to these, however, there are numerous small industries which discharge their untreated wastes into the streams and lakes thus degrad- ing their quality A few cases are briefly described below

Stream Pollution

Ganga river With a length of 2500 km, the Ganga river is one of the largest rivers on the Indian sub-continent There are in all 48 big cities and 66 small towns situated on its banks and none of them has any sewage treatment plant; the major part of the sewage is discharged into the river Further discharge of untreated industrial waste effluents, wanton discarding of corpses into the river and animal and human excreta along its banks are the other major sources of pollution There are several stretches along its course where the river is grossly polluted viz near Kannauj, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Ballia, Patna and Calcutta Bharati er al (1979) have given the following data (Table 6) for some constituents present in the Ganga river water at Sarsaiya Ghat in Kanpur According to Central Inland Fisheries Institute, Allahabad, the discharge of effluents from Indian Farmers Fertilizer Factory, near Phulpur (25 km down-

Table 6 Concentration ranges for some parameters in the Ganga river (Kanpur)

Deter- Conc range Deter- Conc range Deter- Conc range minand (mg/l) minand (mg/l) minand (mg/l) Diss oxygen 1.48-3.75 Cr(VD 0.11 -0.479 Pb 0.042-0.197 BOD; 4.53-0.62 Cd 0.107-0.347 Cu 0.123-0.177 Total P 0.10-0.12 Fe 0.9011.567 Zn 1.134-3.816

Water pollution problems in India 317

stream from Allahabad) has affected a 300 m stretch of the Ganga river causing high fish mortality Similarly, release of oil in effluents by the Barauni Oil Refinery into the Ganga river, which caught fire, resulted in the shut down of the factory for some time ‘Ganga river on Fire’ was the headline in several Indian newspapers

Near a sewage inlet, the Ganga river at Varanasi has been reported to have BOD, value of 342 mg/l Similarly near Calcutta, nearly 70 major industries discharge their untreated waste effluents into the Ganga river thereby degrad- ing its quality

Other north Indian rivers

Yamuna river The Yamuna river water up to Delhi (the Wazirabad offtake point) is reasonably free from pollution, but the influx of over 100 million gallons per day of untreated sewage and over 5 million litres of industrial waste effluents degrades its quality considerably The Delhi epidemic of viral hepatitis when 28746 persons were affected was reported to be due to contamination of water by raw sewage Downstream the river regenerates itself but near Mathura and Agra its quality again deteriorates

Gomati, Son and Damodar rivers In March 1981 and 1983, mass death of fish

in the Gomati river water at Lucknow was reported, apparently caused by depletion of dissolved oxygen due to discharge of untreated sewage, brewery, and distillery wastes The waste discharges from Rohtas Industries, Dalmia- nagar, Bihar, have made a 22 km stretch of the Son river devoid of fish, the affected stretch acting as a barrier to migration of fish both ways The upper stretches of the Damodar river in Eastern India (Fig 1), between Bokaro and Panchet are highly polluted due to discharge of waste effluents from coal washeries, Bokaro Thermal plant and Sindri Fertilizer plant, affecting fish life adversely

Central and peninsular river systems

Periyar river About 26 million litres of waste effluents containing toxic con- stituents are being discharged by various industries like Fertilizer & Chemicals, Table 7 Concentrations of some determinands in Periyar river water

Month Location viz a viz Alwaye EC cl COD PO, (total)

Industrial Complex (uS/em) (mg/l) (mg/l) (mg/l)

March Upstream 1750 488 2.4 1.4

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Travancore (FACT), Hindustan Insecticides, Indian Rare Earths etc into the

Periya river in Kerala, thereby degrading its quality (Table 7), Indian National

Committee for IHP (1978)

Other river and streams

The upper zone of Cooum estuary has become completely lifeless due to

discharge of sewage from Madras The Chaliyar river in Kozhikode is polluted

by effluents from Rayon Factory and is reported to contain relatively high

quantities of mercury The effluent discharges from Orient Paper Mills, in

Barajrajanagar in Orissa, has affected fish life in a 22 km stretch of the stream,

while an 18 km stretch of the Krishna river near Bhadravati, Karnataka is

affected by discharges from paper and steel mills (Jhingran, 1983) The dis-

charges from Andhra Paper Mills, Rajahmundri (A.P.) have affected the fish

population in a 2.4 km stretch of the Godavari river, and the Wardha river near

Balharshah (Maharashtra) is similarly affected by discharges from the Ballarpur

Paper Mills Between Bombay and Kalyan over 100 industries comprising

rayon, aluminium, iron & steel, petrochemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals,

fungicides etc discharge their waste effluents into the Kalu river or the Bay An

acidic block (pH 1.2) has been created which acts as a barrier to the upstream

migration of hilsa fish and acts as a death trap for fishes Mercury upto 612 mg/g

of fish has been reported to occur (Jhingran, 1983)

Lake Pollution

Naini Tal Lake The idyllic fresh water Naini Tal lake, spread over 48 hectares,

is getting polluted by effluent sewage discharges Studies by Handa et al (1982)

have shown that eutrophic conditions have set in and are being controlled by

phosphorus input Mass fish mortality occurs every year and Mahaseer variety

of fish has become extinct Silver, Zn and Cu were found to be present in

concentrations above the permissible limits at some sampling sites in the lake

water

Wular and Dal lakes The beautiful Wular lake in Jammu and Kashmir, which

receives the waters of the Jhelum river is getting silted up as well as polluted by

influx of the Jhelum river containing silt and untreated sewage Similarly the

Dal lake in Srinagar, which early in the 20th century had an area of 36 sq km,

had shrunk to 21 sq km, in 1940 and is reduced to 12 sq km in 1980 Hundreds

of houseboats (guesthouses located on the lake waters) discharge their sewage

including human excreta directly into the lake body, thereby polluting it

Other lakes The Vembanad lake spread over Eranakulam, Alleppey and

Kottayam districts of Kerala; the Kolleru and the Hussain Sagar lakes in

Andhra Pradesh, the Bhopal lake (M P.) and even the Ghana Bird Sanctuary,

Bharatpur are all getting polluted due to anthropogenic activities

Marine pollution

The discharge of sewage into the sea off the coast of Bombay has affected the fish population there The deposition of tar-like residues on the beaches on the west and east coasts of India is becoming more common The off-shore drilling

in the Bombay High and the discharge of industrial wastes off the Gujarat coast are all contributing to the problem of marine pollution, the exact impact of which has not been investigated as yet

Ground water pollution

The capacity of the soil cover to retain impurities is not inexhaustible Accord- ingly, depending upon the nature and depth of the soil cover, load and migra- tion characteristics of the pollutant and application of water, the pollutant may migrate to the saturated zone along with recharge water, thereby affecting ground water quality Although unlike the Western countries, large herds of cattle are not kept together, still in view of the large quantum of animal wastes generated (Table 3), localized contamination of ground water is possible in some favourable areas Application of barnyard manure to bare soil, leakages from composting pits, increasing use of synthetic fertilizers coupled with unsci- entific management of crop, water, soil and fertilizers resulting in low efficiency

of fertilizer use, are additional sources of pollution The efficiency of N- fertilizers is around 30-35% for paddy and 50% for wheat, the balance being lost by denitrification or by leaching to the saturated zone Similarly the K- fertilizer efficiency is only 50%, while that for phosphatic fertilizers is around 15-20% Table 8 gives the fertilizer consumption pattern and increase in irrigated area in India during the last few years

Studies on chemical composition of ground waters in the phreatic zone have revealed that in many cases anomalously high concentrations of nitrates, potas- sium and even phosphate (total phosphate) are present in contrast to their virtual absence (for phosphates) or low concentrations (NO; and K less than 10 mg/l) in semi-confined to confined aquifers Table 9 gives the composition of some dug well waters having anomalously high concentrations of plant nutrients (Handa, 1981)

Table 8 Fertilizer consumption and increase in irrigated areas in India

Year N P20; K,0 Year N PạO; KạO Year Irrigated areas

(thousand tonnes) (thousand tonnes) (million hect.)

1951-52 45 11 8 1970-71 1479 541 236 1962-63 20:5

1955-56 134 12 10 1971-72 1798 558 300 1972-73 39.1

1961-62 250 61 28 1972-73 1840 581 348 1979-80 52.6

1962-63 333 83 36 1980-81 3678 1214 624 1980-81 55.0

1963-64 377 116 51 1981-82 4069 1322 676 1981-82 S727

1964-65 555 148 69 1982-83 4262 1420 735 1982-83 59.8

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Table 9 Ground waters with high concentrations of plant nutrients

Sl Site District State pH EC NO; Na K PO,

Pollution by industrial waste effluents

Untreated waste effluents from about 1500 Calico Printing Units, constituting

about 15 million litres and containing dyestuffs, chemicals, acids, alkalies,

solvents etc are being discharged in the districts of Jodhpur, Pali and Balotra

(W Rajasthan), in open, unlined channels, which ultimately join the rivers

Luni, Jojari or Bandi Due to the sandy nature of the strata, considerable

percolation of the waste water containing these toxic constituents to the saturat-

ed zone has occurred The survey carried out by botanists, zoologists and

chemists (Hindustan Times, 1982) indicates that cases of abortions, impotency,

allergies, tuberculosis, skin diseases, cancers of the bladder etc have increased

manifold during the last decade in this area Further more, 7000-10,000 hec-

tares of land have become barren

Chromium pollution Studies carried out in U P and Haryana have shown that

in a tubewell waster in the premises of Orient Packings Ltd (Faridabad,

Haryana) the Cr content was 31,000 micrograms/I Similarly a handpump water

located at the Kalpi road in Kanpur (Fazalganj area) had 21,000 micrograms Cr/

1 In Sunderpur village, in Varanasi, a well water gave 2000 micrograms Cr/l,

indicating pollution of ground water from waste effluents (Handa et al 1983)

Cyanide pollution Studies carried out by Handa (1978) have revealed that in a

shallow aquifer in Ludhiana, Punjab, cyanide to the extent of 1.9-2.0 mg/l is

present in some places The untreated plating effluents being released by some

industries, in unlined channels, were found to contain up to 63 mg CN/I

Chromium was also high in some of these waste effluents

Pollution due to over-pumping In coastal areas of Gujarat, the saline water

front is gradually moving inwards, due to over-exploitation of ground water,

thereby creating water quality problems

Scale

1:15,000000

Verba

Water pollution problems in India 321

+ Acid Rain Calcutta, Bombay

© Polluted Lakes 1 Nainital U.P

ở Shmir ? 3 Kolleru _ AR

! ĩ 7 Bhopal MP”

Nữ Polluted Rivers

0_ „200 400_km Ly

Periydr R

Groundwater Quality

High Cyanides High Chromium

High Iron

High Fluoride

oose

21 ~ Hydrochemical

Natural water quality problems

Fig 1 Water quality and water pollution in India

Apart from man-induced water quality and water pollution problems, water quality problems due to natural causes also exist in India These are mainly to

be attributed to climatic factors including, interalia, spatial and temporal vari- ations in rainfall Towards the eastern parts, where the rainfall is quite heavy, the problem of ‘high iron content’ is encountered In Assam, for example, some well waters have been reported to contain as much as 20 mg Fe/I, while in Nadia districts of western Bengal 2-3 mg Fe/I in ground waters is not uncommon Towards the west where the climate is semiarid to arid, the ground water at

322 B K Handa

some places is so saline that salt used to be manufactured by solar evaporation

in earlier days viz at Kumher and Dig (Bharatpur, Rajasthan), Dahihanda

(Purna valley, Maharashtra), the Farrukh-nagar-Sultanpur area in Haryana etc

Even now at Agar-Ka-Rin in western Rajasthan, and at Kuda and Kharaghoda

in Gujarat, salt is being manufactured by evaporation of well waters by solar

radiation

High fluoride waters In some arid and semi-arid parts of India ground waters

with high fluoride content occur (Fig 1) In Bankapatti (banka means curved

and patti means bone) in the Sirohi district, well waters have over 10 mg F/l and

people living there suffer from skeletal fluorosis (Handa, 1973) In Tamil Nadu,

A P etc ground water with high fluoride concentrations occur (Fig 1)

References

Bharati, A., Saxena, R P & Pandy, G N (1979) Physiological imbalances due to Cr

(VI) in fresh water algae Indian Journal of Environmental Health 21, 234-243

Dakshini, K M M & Soni, J K (1979) Water quality of sewage drains entering

Yamuna in Delhi Indian Journal Environmental Health 21, 354-360

Handa, B K (1969) Chemical composition of rainwater in some parts of northern India

Indian Journal of Meteorology and Geophysics 20, 145-148

Handa, B K (1973) Presentation and interpretation of F-ion concentrations in natural

waters Symp Fluorosis, 317-347 Indian Academy of Geoscience Hyderabad, India

Handa, B K (1978) Occurrence of heavy metals and cyanides in ground waters from

shallow aquifers in Ludhiana LAWPC Tech Ann 5, 109-115

Handa, B K (1981) Hydrochemistry, water quality and water pollution in Uttar

Pradesh (1980) Central Ground Water Board, Technical Report No 3, 1-317

Handa, B K (1983) Acidity and trace metal conc in rain water over some parts of India

and their significance to terrestrial and aquatic life Internat Symp on Biometeoro-

logy, New Delhi, India Dec 26-30th 1983, [Abstracts ]

Handa, B K., Kumar, A & Goel, D K (1983) Chemical composition of rain water at

Lucknow and its significance to human and aquatic environment Internat Conf on

Energy Conservation and Environment Management, Varanasi, Oct 1983

Handa B K., Kumar, A., Goel, D K & Sondhi, T N Pollution of ground waters by

chromium in Uttar Pradesh [AWPC Tech Ann (in press)

Indian National Committee for the THP Hydrology Rev 1978, 4, Appendix 44-45

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Jefferies, D S & Snyder, D S (1981) Atmospheric deposition of heavy metals in

Central Ontario Water, Air and Soil Pollution 15, 127-152

Mishra, G N (1979) A new approach to sewage treatment-chemical precipitation

Indian Journal of Environmental Health 21, 271-277

Vimal, O P & Talashilkar, S (1983) Recycling wastes in agriculture - Looking ahead

to 2000 A D Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research 42, 115-127

Zutshi, P K., Mahadevan, T N., Vaidyanathan, M & Sathe, A P (1978) Studies on

sulphur dioxide and a few other pollutants in air and rainwater Indian Journal of

Environmental Health 20, 14-28