‘Man exploits, man dies, man cries!’
We humans never learn from the jeopardy suffered due to environmental degradation. Every plastic bag thrown in the river joins to retaliate as a calamity. Though our national capital enjoys the most intellectually active brains, what its public doesn’t comprehend is the torment following the river contamination.
As mentioned in the previous articles, due to high breeding of rod-shaped coliform bacteria like E coli, Salmonella typhi and Klebsiella pneumonia in the river, Delhi has been prone to diseases like diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. These statistics of 2017 explicitly highlight the tendency of a Delhiite to be infected by waterborne disease.
S.No. | Disease. | Cases Reported | Deaths. |
1. | Diarrhea | > 5 lakh | >150 |
2. | Typhoid | >1 lakh | >50 |
3. | Hepatitis | 8362 | 76 |
4. | Cholera | 7382 | 118 |
A TOI report asserts that 7 people in India die every day due to the consumption of polluted water. When diarrhea is the most prevalent disease in the country’s capital, achievement of the central government’s agenda of providing clean water to every household by 2024 doesn’t hold much gravity.
Due to the persistent release of antibiotics and other salts from pharma industries, some waterborne bacterias, viruses, and pathogens may have evolved a degree of resistance in them. As per Dr. Agrawal of AIIMS Delhi, an inadequate response towards Chloramphenicol, a common antibiotic for the treatment of typhoid is seen in multiple patients. With resistance towards commonly used drugs, doctors have to switch to an alternative drug which causes a delay in the treatment. Further, the traces of such infelicitous evolution in these bacterias poses challenges in the remediation of the disease in the future.
Adding to the health hazards River Yamuna in Delhi overflows with high levels of carcinogenic metals like lead, cadmium, and nickel. The international report submitted by Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health declares that more than 40% of the city’s population is found to have an accumulation of such cancer-causing metals indicating the noxious water to be a major source. The nutrient-rich water additionally tends to toxicate the soil and groundwater table associated with the river hence, poisoning the agricultural produce and groundwater table closely associated with the river. Their consumption causes severe threats to human health in the city. Here are some ill effects of the heavy metals present in irrationally large concentrations in the Yamuna.
S No. | Metal | Toxicity |
1. | Lead | Cognitive Imparitveness in children Carcinogenic metal Neuropathy in Adults, Development Delay |
2. | Copper | Nausea, diarrhea, kidney malfunctioning |
3. | Zinc | Diarrhea, liver and kidney damage |
4. | Nickel | Neurotoxic, carcinogenic skin infection |
5. | Cadmium | Carcinogenic, renal damage, gastric dysfunction |
6. | Chromium | Gastric, Hepatic, renal damage |
Some other serious concerns associated with human health include, skin infection, vector propagation (mosquito & musk fly breeding), flooding near the river banks, etc. In some cases olfactory problems such as nausea, headache, breathlessness, etc. have also been reported due to the foul smell of the river and drains associated with it.
Being the only lifeline to the 17 million people of Delhi, the odds of Yamuna river extermination certainly risk our city’s sustainment. The declaration of its water as “unfit for any use” after Majnu ka Tila by the DJB further poses a challenge for the water requirements of more than 20 million people of Uttar Pradesh as the river water is paramount for the domestic, agricultural and industrial consumption of the significant part of its population.
The government has been significantly working for the cleaning of the river and minimizing the waste produced. In the next article we shall discuss the ongoing government projects and how are they going to benefit in Yamuna rejuvenation.