/topics/contamination-pollution-and-quality
Contamination, Pollution and Quality
Creating a pool of water quality trainers at scale
Posted on 11 Jan, 2023 10:52 AMAccording to the Global Water Quality Index, India ranks 120th out of 122 countries in water quality, its ability and commitment to improving it.
![Strengthening skills of participants to impart training in their respective work areas (Image: INREM Foundation)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/lead.jpg?itok=1RzlXokj)
Building communities of practice on water quality
Posted on 09 Jan, 2023 01:50 PMHealing traditions in India have withstood the test of time. Not many of us need to be taught to mix a pinch of haldi in a glass of milk to cope with sore throat, now famously known as turmeric latte, or to add a pinch of dry ginger to our tea when we catch a cold.
![Snapshot of a Guided Mentoring session being conducted virtually on Zoom Platform (Source: INREM Foundation)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/GM.jpg?itok=jfj_mSro)
Radiation not a pollutant, says Pollution Control Committee
Posted on 06 Jan, 2023 10:08 AMRadiation is not a pollutant: Pollution Control Committee
![DPCC claims there is no convincing scientific evidence of causing adverse health effects of radiation (Image: CC0 Public Domain)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/lead-policy-update.jpg?itok=rOj3UQX6)
Microplastics in tributaries of the Upper Ganga River
Posted on 01 Jan, 2023 11:23 AMMicroplastic contamination has appeared as pollution of global concern in the aquatic as well as the terrestrial environment. In India, very few studies are available on microplastic load in freshwater ecosystems, despite the fact that rivers play a major role in transporting microplastics into the marine ecosystem.
![Microplastics (Image: Oregon State University, Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2023-01/Microplastic.jpg?itok=TgPEoWZY)
Professionalizing Water Quality Management by empowered stakeholders
Posted on 29 Dec, 2022 07:12 PMJal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is an aspirational programme aiming to provide functional tap water connections to every household in rural India, ensuring access to adequate safe water.
![Water Quality Champions, in the making (Image Source: INREM Foundation)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2022-12/WQC2.jpg?itok=FW44GiZh)
Imagining a societal scale water solution
Posted on 28 Dec, 2022 12:45 PMA forwarded message on whatsapp: a mythological character in a critical scene: the warrior lying on a bed of arrows, thirsty, and the Hero using his magical arrow brings the river Ganga right there, with the Parjanyastra , a magical arrow that brings rain. In this version though, the water did not come out from the ground — the earth was dry and the missile couldn’t work!
![Bhisma drinking water of Patala Ganga which was drawn on earth by Arjuna (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/2022-12/Bhisma.jpg?itok=dfso8FJR)
River Sharavathi - under siege from microplastics
Posted on 16 Dec, 2022 01:32 PMRivers worldover are choking on plastic and transferring more than two million tonnes per year of microplastics (MPs) into the marine environment informs this paper titled 'Assessment of pollution and risks associated with microplastics in the riverine sediments of the Western Ghats: a heritage site in southern I
![The pristine river Sharavathi (Image Source: Ashwin Kumar via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp-images/Sharavathi_River_Karnataka_India.jpg?itok=i0PL19Ej)
Water Quality Management Course - Not just a training program
Posted on 16 Dec, 2022 01:17 PMThe journey of the Water Quality Management (WQM) Course into a movement with over 1500 WaterQualityChampions’ (WQC) across the country is curious and exciting. The course is enabling participants into “Water Quality champions” that even the course creators did not anticipate. Hence, it demands a closer introspection - into what went behind.
![During a WQM course, a field team member from INREM facilitating a demonstration](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp-images/INREM%2013.png_0.jpg?itok=GgvS18Sm)
Assessing the health of river Ganga
Posted on 08 Dec, 2022 07:07 PMDams can bind and gag rivers
Structures such as locks, dams, barrages, and weirs are known to drastically reduce the longitudinal connectivity of rivers, impact downstream flow, and alter riverine ecosystems.
![The polluted Ganges (Image Source: Lane Rasberry via Wikimedia Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp-images/Pollution_of_Ganga.jpg?itok=cN3MQq1G)
Groundwater policy affects stubble burning in the north west
Posted on 29 Oct, 2022 11:20 AMAn estimated 620 million tons of crop residue is generated annually in India, of which 16% is burnt in field. The major contribution in stubble burning is paddy straw (43%), wheat straw (21%) followed by sugarcane (19%).
![Burning of rice residues in south east Punjab, prior to the wheat season(Image: CIAT/NeilPalmer via Flickr Commons)](/sites/default/files/styles/featured_articles/public/iwp-images/NP_India_burning_48_%286315309342%29.jpg?itok=jNjvkgql)