Wastewater Treatment And Sustainable Development

Wastewater Treatment And Sustainable Development
22-May-2017

Why in news?

International World Water Day  was  celebrated on March 22
This year’s theme was “wastewater”, which is defined as any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influences and as a result of domestic, industrial, commercial and agricultural activities.

What is the global issue?

Population growth, accelerated urbanisation and economic development have resulted in an increase in the quantity of wastewater.
Most of our freshwater sources are under threat.
Industrial water consumption accounts for 22% of the global water used, when public awareness of pollution is limited the cost of pollution to our health and the ecosystem is huge.
The victims are generally the poor or socially vulnerable communities, and the end result is a high financial burden on the community and government.
What is the problem in India?

By 2030, the global demand for water is expected to grow by 50%. Most of this demand will be in cities.
In low-income areas of cities/towns within developing countries, a large proportion of wastewater is discharged directly into the surface water drain, without or with limited treatment.
Traditional wastewater treatment plants may not remove certain pollutants.
In India, about 29,000 million l/day of waste water is generated from class-I cities and class-II towns, out of which about 45% is generated from metro cities alone.
A collection system exists for only about 30% of the wastewater through sewer lines, while treatment capacity exists for about 7,000 ml/d.
The industrial sector in India discharges around 30,730 million cubic metres of effluents, without proper treatment, into water bodies.
Run-off from agriculture fields is another major source of pollution.
India, extracts water significantly for various developmental purposes.
Hence, the water flow or storage capacity of water bodies has declined substantially, adversely affecting their waste assimilation/sink functions.
What are the water Management strategies?

Integrated Nature conservation policies between Union and states and Water pollution should be made a punishable offence.
The effectiveness and power of the “polluter pay principle” should be considered.
Strategies to protect water resources should be Public-Private Partnership and Capacity building at local levels.
Market-based strategies such as environmental taxes, pollution levies should be implemented.
Incentive mechanisms such as subsidies, soft loans, tax relaxation should be included in installing pollution management devices.
In industries cleaner production-technology must be encouraged.
The application of eco-friendly inputs such as bio fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture and the use of natural dyes in textile industries can reduce the pollution load considerably.
Way forward:

Past experience shows that significant progress has not been achieved despite legislative and policy measures being introduced with huge budgets to solve water pollution issues.
Water pollution is not a major topic of political debate as yet.
Unfortunately, most common effluent treatment plants are not performing satisfactorily due to improper operations and maintenance.
There is sufficient evidence to suggest that the problem, though complex, is solvable. While it is not realistic to aim for zero water pollution, a level of socially acceptable pollution, respecting the integrity of ecosystems and service provision, can be reached.
The benefits to our health, and in terms of economic development and environmental sustainability, business opportunities and ‘green’ jobs far compensate the costs of wastewater management.

Source:-The-Hindu

Chakmas And Hajongs

Chakmas And Hajongs

22-May-2017

Why in news?

A long-standing demand of the Chakma and Hajong refugee community for Indian citizenship may be met soon.

Who are these people?

Chakmas and Hajongs were originally residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts of erstwhile East Pakistan, who had to flee when their land was submerged by the Kaptai dam project in the 1960s.
The Chakmas, who are Buddhist, and Hajongs, who are Hindus, also faced religious persecution in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Chakmas and Hajongs entered India through the then Lushai Hills district of Assam (now Mizoram).
Within the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Chakmas are the largest ethnic group and make up half of the region's population.
The Chakma possess strong genetic affinities to Tibeto-Burman groups in Northeast India and to East Asian populations.
In Assam Chakma people have scheduled tribe status.
They also have high frequencies of mainland Indian genetic ancestry.
Hajong are the fourth largest ethnicity in Meghalaya.
Hajongs are predominantly rice farmers and have the status of a Scheduled Tribe in India(Assam and Meghalaya)
According to officials, the number of these refugees has increased from about 5,000 in 1964-69 to 1,00,000.
While some stayed back with the Chakmas already in the district, the Indian government moved a majority of Chakmas and Hajong to the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), which is now Arunachal Pradesh.
At present, they do not posses citizenship and land rights, but are provided basic amenities by the state government.
What is the issue about?

The Centre and the Arunachal Pradesh government are in talks to accord citizenship to them, though without extending the rights available to Scheduled Tribes in the state.
This is the third generation of the refugees who first settled in the region in the early 1960s.
The Supreme Court had given a three-month deadline in 2015 to the Centre to process the demand.
Only about 5,000 persons of the original 14,888 persons of 2,748 refugee families settled in Arunachal between 1964 to ’69 are reportedly alive, which means most persons in the two communities were born in India and hence, qualify for Indian citizenship by birth.
Stiff opposition from the state government had stalled implementation of the SC directive.
The move, however, has political implications for Arunachal Pradesh.
Since the 1980s, the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has spearheaded a mass movement against granting citizenship to Chakmas and Hajongs.
The AAPSU fears that the refugees could soon outnumber the indigenous population and influence electoral outcomes.

Source: Indian Express

Bacterial pollution

Bacterial Pollution

Why in news?

European study finds, the pharmacy industry in Hyderabad is polluting the environment with antimicrobials.

What are the key findings of the study?

The pollution contributes to a rise in drug-resistant infections, a new study published in the journal Infection alleges.
Drug resistance in India is the sheer number of neonatal deaths attributed to it, an estimated 58,000 every year, followed by hospital-acquired infections that fail to respond to last-resort treatment.
The crisis of drug resistance is exemplified by the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis in India and the disease could spread to the international community.
More significantly, the study claims that all samples contained antimicrobials in concentrations far exceeding maximum permissible environmental concentrations of these drugs.
For long now low-level exposure to antimicrobial drugs in the environment has been feared for inducing resistance.
While industrial units can claim there is no chemical discharge, the water bodies continue to receive inflows clearly loaded with chemicals, this is miserable here.
Now it’s clear that not only water bodies are getting polluted, the bacteria are also getting polluted.
If this tends to continue microorganisms will evolve into drug resistive and spread across the nation which will be a global threat.
What is the reaction of the Industry?

Drug manufacturers in Hyderabad maintain that it does not sufficiently link antibiotic resistance to pharma effluents and that they comply with Pollution Control Board norms.
University of Hyderabad (UoH) scientists have carried out a study commissioned by the Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association (India) that shows multidrug-resistant bacteria can also be found in areas where no pharma units exist.
As it looked only for bacteria, the UoH study could not respond to specific allegations made by the Infection study of drug residues in high concentrations around specific pharma units.
Industry representatives say they will commission another study before responding to this accusation.
What is the way forward?

Claiming that Indian authorities have not done enough, the study also calls upon European regulators to ensure enforcement of regulations during the manufacturing process.
It is important, that government should take needful action for prevention, rather than seeking complex methods for cure.

Source: The Hindu
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