/topics/biological-pollution
Biological Pollution
Improving India's poor environmental performance
Posted on 23 Jun, 2022 08:37 AMOn June 8, Yale University's Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network released a report of the Environmental Performance Index 2022. India ranked lowest among the 180 countries considered, lagging behind Myanmar at 179, Vietnam (178), Bangladesh (177) and Pakistan (176).
![As per the EPI 2022 deteriorating air quality and rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions are the primary reasons behind the country's low score (Image: Rawpixel)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2022-06/pollution.jpg?itok=EJcCbrQo)
Transparent urban river pollution monitoring
Posted on 25 May, 2022 09:33 AMUnprecedented expansion and anthropic activities amongst other reasons lead to choking of urban rivers with municipal and industrial sewage. Around 63% of the total 62 million litres/ day generated sewage is dumped in Indian urban rivers without treatment, as per a Central Pollution Control Board report submitted to National Green Tribunal, India.
![Ulhas river near Khandpe village (Image: Ganesh Dhamodkar, Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2022-05/ulhas.jpg?itok=pCX0_0Ck)
Water can kill!
Posted on 12 Nov, 2021 12:00 PMThe news of fish deaths in freshwater bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds is not new to India.
![Algal blooms in a pond in Tamil Nadu (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2021-11/Algal%20blooms%20in%20a%20pond%20in%20Tamil%20Nadu_0.jpg?itok=hMQDSbSE)
Water contamination and pollution - A growing challenge for health and biodiversity
Posted on 17 Oct, 2021 02:03 AMWhere is water on earth located?
Water on earth exists in two forms, freshwater and salt water. Less than 3 percent of the water found on earth is freshwater, and the remaining 97 percent is salt water found in the oceans.
![Poisoned waters of the Yamuna (Image Source: India Water Portal)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2021-10/Yamuna1_0.jpg?itok=ShtL_H-n)
Biodiversity - crucial for survival of freshwater ecosystems!
Posted on 04 Aug, 2021 04:47 PMRivers, lakes, ponds and streams – natural freshwater ecosystems are a precious resource because of the rich biodiversity they support and the valuable ecosystem services they provide.
![View of a s stream in Kerala (Image Source: Firos AK via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2021-08/Stream_in_kakkayam_kerala_India_IMG_7582.jpg?itok=97oGnLHd)
East Kolkata Wetlands – fast turning death traps for aquatic ecosystems?
Posted on 24 Jun, 2021 10:43 AMWhile 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2021-06/ekw.jpg?itok=K5n7z59x)
Fifty million people in Indian cities lack access to safe drinking water
Posted on 12 May, 2021 05:46 PMFifty million people in fifteen cities in India have no access to safe, affordable drinking water: UNICEF report
![](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2021-05/DW1.jpg?itok=lpf6pLMD)
Holy waters, unholy outcomes!
Posted on 28 Aug, 2020 05:52 PMRivers 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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/kshipra_mass_bathing.jpg?itok=rJgzyAzw)
Locals struggle with WASH issues post-Amphan
Posted on 17 Aug, 2020 12:17 PMUN’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)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/w5.jpg?itok=J4P7V49H)
India-UK team tackles antimicrobial resistance spread in waterways
Posted on 07 Aug, 2020 11:30 AMAn estimated 58,000 babies die in India every year from superbug infections passed on from their mothers, whilst drug-resistant pathogens cause between 28,000 to 38,000 extra deaths in the European Union every year.
![The Musi river in Hyderabad, which has high concentrations of antibiotics released from production facilities (Image: Newcastle University)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp/musi_river_india_standard.jpg?itok=dwsR91Od)