Chemical Pollution

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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)
June 22, 2021
Toxic chemicals: A barrier to safe drinking water
Nonylphenol and its ethoxylates in drinking water: A health challenge
Water treatment facilities are incapable of removing many chemical compounds and need to be upgraded (Image: PxHere)
June 22, 2021
Delhi Govt gets stricter in tackling Yamuna river pollution
Policy matters this fortnight
Yamuna flows under (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
January 1, 2021
Delhi smog can’t be blamed on crop fires
There is more to Delhi's air pollution than stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana.
The small window of a fortnight between rice harvesting and wheat sowing compels farmers to burn the crop residue (Image: Neil Palmer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA-4.0 Generic)
December 22, 2020
Air pollution: Filling the gaps
Controlling air pollution needs long-term holistic solutions such as a reduction in the usage of biomass, coal and lignite, and agricultural residues.
All Indian cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad surpass the air quality standards by a significant margin (Image: United Nations; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
December 6, 2019
Holistic approach needed to clean the Ganga
A report by the India Rivers Forum highlights the need to focus further than the main stem of the Ganga river.
Distant snow clad mountains, the smaller hills and the Ganga river (Image: Srimoyee Banerjee, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Ganga, a sink of microplastics
A study by Toxics Link reveals that Ganga is heavily polluted by microplastics, the highest concentration being at Varanasi. Amita Bhaduri posted 1 week ago

A new study by the Delhi-based environment NGO Toxics Link reveals the presence of microplastics in all samples collected from the river at Haridwar, Kanpur and Varanasi.
Cleaning efforts on the Ganga has so far focussed on focussed on creating sewage treatment capacities in the major urban centres along the river. (Image: Richard IJzermans, Flickr Commons, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
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! Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 1 month ago

While freshwater ecosystems in India are known to harbour rich biodiversity, their health is being increasingly challenged in recent years. And the East Kolkata Wetlands, one of the important Ramsar sites in India, and the largest wastewater fed aquaculture systems in the world that provide fish and support paddy and vegetable cultivation, are no exception.
Fishermen use wastewater from Kolkata to rear fish (Image Source: India Water Portal)
Toxic chemicals: A barrier to safe drinking water
Nonylphenol and its ethoxylates in drinking water: A health challenge Amita Bhaduri posted 1 month 1 week ago

A drinking water quality, testing, monitoring and surveillance framework was released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in March 2021 as a part of the government’s flagship Nal se Jal scheme.
Water treatment facilities are incapable of removing many chemical compounds and need to be upgraded (Image: PxHere)
Delhi Govt gets stricter in tackling Yamuna river pollution
Policy matters this fortnight Swati Bansal posted 1 month 1 week ago

Yamuna pollution: Delhi Govt bans soaps and detergents not meeting latest BIS standards
Yamuna flows under (Image source: IWP Flickr photos)
Pollution levels rising post-lockdown in cities in south India
How clean air gains of the lockdown and monsoon periods have been now lost with the reopening of the economy and with the onset of the winter. Amita Bhaduri posted 5 months 3 weeks ago

An analysis was done by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) of winter pollution (until January 26, 2021) in India’s five southern states - a vulnerable but poorly monitored region from the air quality perspective.
Air quality management requires regional approach to implement clean air action plans, says CSE (Image: Pixy)
Delhi smog can’t be blamed on crop fires
There is more to Delhi's air pollution than stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana. Amita Bhaduri posted 6 months 4 weeks ago

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The small window of a fortnight between rice harvesting and wheat sowing compels farmers to burn the crop residue (Image: Neil Palmer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY SA-4.0 Generic)
Air pollution: Filling the gaps
Controlling air pollution needs long-term holistic solutions such as a reduction in the usage of biomass, coal and lignite, and agricultural residues. Amita Bhaduri posted 7 months 1 week ago

Air pollution killed 16.7 lakh Indians and led to an economic loss of Rs. 
All Indian cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad surpass the air quality standards by a significant margin (Image: United Nations; CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Holy waters, unholy outcomes!
A study found that mass bathing events in the Kshipra river not only led to high pollution, but also to the presence of multidrug resistant pathogenic bacteria in its waters, posing a risk to health. Aarti Kelkar Khambete posted 11 months ago

Rivers are revered and considered holy since times immemorial in India and mass bathing in some rivers is an age-old ritual. A holy dip and a holy sip of the river waters are considered to be a highly purifying. But is the dip really cleansing at all when almost all the rivers in India are known to be highly polluted?
A priest offers water to the sun at Ramghat on the Kshipra river at Simhastha (Image Source: Makarand Purohit)
Locals struggle with WASH issues post-Amphan
Cyclone Amphan wreaks havoc in the Sunderbans at a time when the country was already battling a large spread of Covid-19. Amita Bhaduri posted 11 months 1 week ago

UN’s recognition of safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right recently hit a decade and this makes us ponder even more about the situation in the Sundarbans after the Amphan cyclone. The destruction caused by Amphan in the Sundarbans poses a massive threat to the very right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation of the people living there.
Having no source of water is proving to be extremely difficult for the people living in the Sundarbans. (Image: WaterAid, Subhrajit Sen)
Groundwater extraction: NGT gets strict with commercial entities
Policy matters this week Swati Bansal posted 11 months 2 weeks ago

NGT bans granting general permissions for groundwater extraction to commercial entities
NGT gets strict with commercial entities (Source: IWP Flickr album)
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