INTRODUCTION Water is the earths most distinctive constituent.

It set the stage for the evaluation of life and is an essential ingredient for all live today. Liquid water occurs on our planet in three forms: as very large, medium and small bodies of standing water such as Oceans, Seas and Numerous lakes: as bodies of flowing water, in the form of major rivers, streams, rivulets and springs: and a sub surface water, the form of film around grains, droplets in pore spaces and cavities in rock filling them partly ore completely over variable areas and creating under ground reservoirs. The subsurface water is further distinguished into two main types: 1. Vadose water, which occurs from surface downwards up to the variable depth and is in a state of downward movement under a influence of gravity. Its movement is commonly described as infiltration. 2. Ground water: This includes all the subsurface water reaching the depth below which all the pore spaces, openings and other cavities of the soil and rock are completely filled with water. The total saline water (ocean and seas) on earth estimate about 97% and the fresh water accounts to 3% .Almost 77% of the fresh water comes from the glaciers and icecaps. About 11% from the ground water up to 800m, 11% from the ground water below 800m and 1% from the lakes, Rivers, Streams etc.,

Water Pollution in India

Untreated wastewater is responsible for polluting water resources. Small and medium plants do not invest in effluent s e.g., over 3,000 units in Ankleshwar, Gujarat discharge ~270 MM liters of effluents each day. Untreated domestic wastewater is reused for agriculture causing health hazards Extensive Use of Chemicals: Runoff from agricultural fields contains pesticides & fertilizers that pollute surface water. Use of pesticides increased from ~1 MM tons in 1948 to 52 MM tons by 2001. ~47% of irrigated areas in India lie in the Ganges basin which contains chemicals such as HCH2DDT3, methyl malathion etc. in excess of international standards Use of fertilizers in India has increased from 0.55Kgs/hectare in 1950 to 90.12 Kgs/hectare in 20012002. High fertilizer use has led to eutrophication4in several water bodies, such as the Hussein Sagar in Hyderabad and Nainital in UP. Pollution is affecting the quality of Surface water across India 14% of total river length in India is severely polluted and 19% is moderately polluted (based on BOD5levels) High levels of chemicals in soil and water have worsened the quality of groundwater 69 districts across 14 states have fluoride above acceptable levels

6 districts in the Ganges river plains of West Bengal have high levels of arsenic Heavy metals in groundwater have been found in 40 districts across 13 states. Rural India has more than 700 million people residing in about 1.42 million habitations spread over 15 diverse ecological regions. Meeting the drinking water needs of such a large population can be a daunting task. The non-uniformity in level of awareness, socio-economic development, education, poverty, practices and rituals and water availability add to the complexity of the task. Despite an estimated total of Rs. 1,105 billion spent on providing safe drinking water since the First Five Year Plan was launched in 1951, lack of safe and secure drinking water continues to be a major hurdle and a national economic burden. Around 37.7 million Indians are affected by waterborne diseases annually, 1.5 million children are estimated to die of diarrhoea alone and 73 million working days are lost due to waterborne disease each year. The resulting economic burden is estimated at $600 million a year. While traditional diseases such as diarrhoea continue to take a heavy toll, 66 million Indians are at risk due to excess fluoride2 and 10 million due to excess arsenic in groundwater. In all, 1, 95,813 habitations in the country are affected by poor water quality.3 It is clear that the large investments have not yielded comparable improvements in health and other socio-economic indicators. The average availability of water remains more or less fixed according to the natural hydrological cycle but the per capita availability reduces steadily due to an increasing population. In 1955, the per capita availability was 5,300 cubic metres (cu.m) per person per year, which came down to 2,200 cu. m in 1996.iIt is expected that by around 2020, India will be a water stressed' state with per capita availability declining to 1600 cu m/person/year.4 A country is said to be water stressed when the per capita availability of water drops below 1700 cu. m/person/year. Groundwater Pollution and Contamination in India: The crucial role groundwater plays as a decentralized source of drinking water for millions rural and urban families cannot be overstated. According to some estimates, it accounts for nearly 80per cent of the rural domestic water needs, and 50 per cent of the urban water needs in India. Groundwater is generally less susceptible to contamination and pollution when compared to surface water bodies. Also, the natural impurities in rainwater, which replenishes groundwater systems, get removed while infiltrating through soil strata. But, In India, where groundwater issued intensively for irrigation and industrial purposes, a variety of land and water-based human activities are causing pollution of this precious resource. Its over-exploitation is causing aquifer contamination in certain instances, while in certain others its unscientific development with insufficient knowledge of groundwater flow dynamic and geo-hydro chemical processes has ledto its mineralization. Extent and Impacts of Groundwater Contamination and Pollution The incidence of fluoride above permissible levels of 1.5ppm occur in 14 Indian states, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West

Bengal affecting a total of 69 districts, according to some estimates. Some other estimates find that 65 per cent of Indias villages are exposed to fluoride risk. High levels of salinity are reported from all these states except West Bengal and also the NCT of Delhi, and affects 73 districts and three blocks of Delhi. Iron content above permissible level of 0.3 ppm is found in 23 districts from 4 states, namely, Bihar, Rajasthan, Tripura and West Bengal and coastal Orissa and parts of Agartala valley in Tripura. High levels of arsenic above the permissible levels of 50 parts per billion (ppb) are found in the alluvial plains of Ganges covering six districts of West Bengal. Presence of heavy metals in groundwater is found in 40 districts from 13 states, viz., Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and five blocks of Delhi. Non-point pollution caused by fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture, often dispersed over large areas, is a great threat to fresh groundwater ecosystems. Intensive use of chemical fertilizers in farms and indiscriminate disposal of human and animal waste on land result in leaching of the residual nitrate causing high nitrate concentrations in groundwater. Nitrate concentration is above the permissible level of 45 ppm in 11 states, covering 95 districts and two blocks of Delhi. DDT, BHC, carbanate, Endosulfan, etc. are the most common pesticides used in India. But, the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide and fertilizer pollution is governed by soil texture, pattern of fertilizer and pesticide use, their degradation products, and total organic matter in the soil. Pollution of groundwater due to industrial effluents and municipal waste in water bodies is another major concern in many cities and industrial clusters in India. A 1995 survey undertaken by Central Pollution Control Board identified 22 sites in 16 states of India as critical for groundwater pollution, the primary cause being industrial effluents. A recent survey undertaken by Centre for Science and Environment from eight places in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana reported traces of heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, zinc and mercury. Shallow aquifer in Ludhiana city, the only source of its drinking water, is polluted by a stream which receives effluents from 1300 industries. Excessive withdrawal of groundwater from coastal aquifers has led to induced pollution in the form of seawater intrusion in Kachchh and Saurashtra in Gujarat, Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Calicut in Kerala. There are no estimates of the public health consequences of groundwater pollution as it involves methodological complexities and logistical problems. Nevertheless, levels of toxicity depend on the type of pollutant. Mercury is reported to cause impairment of brain functions, neurological disorders, retardation of growth in children, abortion and disruption of the endocrine system, whereas pesticides are toxic or carcinogenic. Generally, pesticides damage the liver and nervous system. Tumour formation in liver has also been reported. The presence of fluoride in water cannot be detected without the help of water quality testing equipment. High fluoride content is often detected from such symptoms on human beings as yellowing of teeth, damaged joints and bone deformities, which occur from long years of exposure to fluoride containing water. Due to this reason, by the time the community realizes the menace, a large section of the population is already affected. A recent survey by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in north Gujarat showed 42 per cent of the people covered in the sample survey (28,425) were affected; while 25.7

per cent were affected by dental fluorosis, 6.2 per cent were affected by muscular skeletal fluorosis and 10 per cent by both. The potential biological and toxicological effects of using fluoride contaminated water are also dangerous. Study on fluorotic populations of north Gujarat revealed an increase in frequency of sister chromatic exchange in fluorotic individuals indicating that fluoride might have genotoxic effect. Fluoride had been reported to cause depressions in DNA and RNA synthesis in cultured cells. Another study on the effects of fluorides in mice showed significant reductions in DNA and RNA levels. Conditions including ageing, cancer, and arteriosclerosis are associated with DNA damage and its disrepair. Prolonged exposure to water containing salts (TDS above 500ppm) can cause kidney stone, a phenomenon widely reported from north and coastal Gujarat. Arsenic contamination of drinking water causes a disease called arsenicosis, for which there is no effective treatment, though consumption of arsenic free water could help affected people at early stages of ailment to get rid of the symptoms of arsenic toxicity. Arsenic contamination is by far the biggest mass poisoning case in the world putting 20 million people from West Bengal and Bangladesh at risk though some other estimates put the figure at 36 million people. As per the latest estimate of Central Pollution Control Board, about 29,000 million litre/day of wastewater generated from class-I cities and class-II towns out of which about 45% (about 13000 mld) is generated from 35 metro-cities alone. The collection system exists for only about 30% of the wastewater through sewer line and treatment capacity exists for about 7000 million litre/day. Thus, there is a large gap between generation, collection and treatment of wastewater. A large part of un-collected, un-treated wastewater finds it way to either nearby surface water body or accumulated in the city itself forming cesspools. In almost all urban centres cesspools exist. These cesspools are good breeding ground for mosquitoes and also source of groundwater pollution. The wastewater accumulated in these cesspools gets percolated in the ground and pollute the groundwater. Also in many cities/towns conventional septic tanks and other low cost sanitation facilities exists. Due to non-existence of proper maintenance these septic tank become major source of groundwater pollution. In many urban areas groundwater is only source of drinking. Thus, a large population is at risk of exposed to water borne diseases of infectious (bacterial, viral or animal infections) or chemical nature (due to fluoride or arsenic). Water born diseases are still a great concern in India.

Water Pollution in Tamilnadu