Let’s talk about Bangalore’s Water Pollution
When we talk about Bangalore, we think about a city with beautiful lakes and landscapes, beautiful atmosphere and its culture driven modernity. Bangalore is also referred as Silicon Valley of India and we all love it for all the right reasons. I mean, why wouldn’t we?
Apart from city’s beautiful wildlife and green preserved landscape, Bangalore might become inhabitable soon due to the extreme water pollution. Scientists say that due to urbanization, the city is facing extreme water shortage. The waste management of the city has failed miserably. Eighty five percentages of Bangalore’s lakes are polluted severely. The water quality when tested was observed to be severe. It has been subject to unchecked urbanization in the wake of the IT sector-fueled economic boom of the late 1990s.
So let’s go into a little detail about what happened.
70 million gallons of sewage enters the lake every day.
The industrial waste is directly dumped into the lakes. This sewage is not treated. Due to this careless dumping of waste in the water bodies, the river foaming has appeared.
Here’s another fact, the
sewage treatment plants won’t be installed and functional until 2020. Out of 392 lakes, eighty five percentages of lakes are tested graded E.
Grade E means, that their water can only be used for industrial cooling purposes; which means it is not safe for domestic use and can be very toxic for consumption.
To add on the beautiful world we have created, only two percentage of it is fit for drinking and domestic purposes. The population of Bangalore has risen to 11 million from 9 million in the past five years. Yay!
One of the significant pollutants that led to this is excessive usage of detergent by households. The same has been a contributor to the formation of toxic foam which is hazardous for plants and animals as well. The sheet of foam covers the city. According to some residents, these foams smell worse than a restroom.
Another pollutant is solid waste from industries. It affects 44.5% of the water bodies. Once which was known for ‘city of Lakes’, India’s Silicon Valley threatens resident’s health and is causing the infamous lakes to catch fire.
What are the leaders doing about this?
The authorities like ‘Water Act (Prevention of Control of Pollution) and Air Act’ should take some action for the same, the government has decided to remain quiet.
What?
Water doesn’t belong to us. It is something shared by humans, animals and plants. This has led to soil pollution as well. Congratulations.
How long will it take for us to realize that earth doesn’t only belong to us?
We have created a world where basic amenities like water is ought using money. How long will it take for us to buy air? When we think about it, in our mind we create a picture of the futuristic movies with oxygen masks all over the face. I wonder where we are heading to. Water Pollution is a real thing. PERIOD.
Let’s start speaking and spreading awareness before it’s too late.
Picture Credits: images8.alphacoders.com
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