Geographical Perspective on Selected Issues and Problems
Pollution and water pollution
Name the most polluted river stretches and their polluters.
Pollution is the release of substances and energy (like heat or noise) from human activities, in amounts that harm the environment. There are four main kinds: air, water, land and noise pollution.
Water can clean itself to some extent. It becomes polluted when pollutants are more than its self-purifying capacity.
Sources of water pollution:
- Industry is the biggest contributor: leather, paper, textiles, chemicals and others discharge wastes into rivers.
- Agriculture adds fertilisers and pesticides that wash into water.
- Cultural activities, like immersing idols, flowers and ashes, also add pollutants.
The Ganga below Kanpur and Varanasi, and the Yamuna from Delhi to its meeting with the Chambal, are badly polluted.
About a quarter of communicable diseases in India are water-borne. The Namami Gange Programme aims to clean the Ganga. Rivers carry what we dump into them.
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