Report on A visit to a Local Water/dumping Polluted Site

Submitted to

Miss. Sanskruti.B.Jodh

EVS Professor

Department of Commerce

ICCS, WAKAD PCMC PUNE

Introduction

Pollution can be defined as the undesirable change in natural system.

It may also define as the unwanted change in the characteristics of
air, water, soil and other environmental factors.

Pollution adversely affects the health, survival or other activities of

human and other animals. It is the main problem at present both at
local level as well as at a global level. In Nepal, the pollution is the
growing concern. But there are only limited studies done so far to
quantify the level of pollution. Thus the availability of the data is very
poor. The monitoring activities are virtually insignificant. However,
with the movement of industrialization and urbanization the
pollution situation has become quite visible in some industrial
locations and major urban center.

Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign

substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollutants
include solid, liquid or gaseous substances present in greater than
natural abundance produced due to human activity, which have
detrimental effect on our environment. Pollution can affect: air,
water, soil and biodiversity that directly affect the plant and animal
life.

There are various types of pollution. Some are listed below: air
pollution, water pollution, land pollution and noise pollution.

Water pollution

Water pollution is defined as the contamination of water by harmful

substances which is detrimental to living beings. Industrial wastes,
household garbage, non-decomposable materials from schools,
chemicals, pesticides releasing from agricultural activities are major
cause to pollute water bodies. The effects of water pollution include
decreasing the quantity of drinkable water available, lowering water
supplies for crop irrigation, and impacting fish and wildlife
populations that require water of a certain purity for survival.
Consumption of polluted water causes various water borne diseases
which are effecting the human health in long term and short term.

Land Pollution

Soil or land pollution is contamination of the soil that prevents

natural growth and balance in the land. Many micro and macro flora
and fauna are affected by land pollution since they obtain minerals,
nutrition from soil itself. Soil contamination can lead to poor growth
and reduced crop yields, loss of wildlife habitat, water and visual
pollution, soil erosion, and desertification.

Noise Pollution

Noise pollution refers to undesirable levels of noises caused by

human activity that disrupt the standard of living in the affected
area. Nose pollution cause mental stress, depression, damage to the
ear drum which can cause deafness. Other forms of pollution include
radioactive pollution, thermal pollution, light pollution and plastic
pollution. But our concern during our visit was Water Pollution.
There has grown up a serious concern all over the visited area about
the river and small rivulets turning into polluted site. Water is the
most important natural resource of environment that supports life
on the Earth. India is the tenth richest country in the world in terms
of water resources. There are about more than 6000 rivers in india
having drainage area of 191000q. km, 74% of which lies in India
alone.. There is various classification of water pollution. Pollution of
water is classified into two categories based on their source:

a) Point sources:
It refers to the contaminants that enter the waterway from a single
identifiable source

Such as pipe or ditch. E.g : discharge from factory

b) Non-point sources:

It means pollutants are emitted from multiple sources. E.g.: surface

run off from agricultural land.

Objectives:

 To identify the major reason, extent and type of the pollution

near the visited site.
 To identify the adverse effect of pollution in that vicinity.
 To explore the extent of pollution in the given specified region.
 To study the present situation of environment.
 To study the visible effects of pollution.
 To study about the direct and indirect causes of pollution
 To formulate the possible strategies in order to control various
pollution
 To suggest control measures to minimize pollution.

Methodology:

Firstly, we visited around polluted Pawna River site and small

watershed in front of the Shiv temple in Theragaon . Further, analysis
was done by following two methods:

A. Primary method:

The polluted site was properly observed and information was

gathered up.

B. Secondary method:
Different literary books and journals related to pollution were
consulted. Internet sites were also cited and desk study was done for
obtaining different information about the polluted place.

Discussion:

Pawna River and small watershed in front of Shiv temple in

Theragaon selected for the report preparation which is located in
Pimpri Chinchwad. Morphometry of site:

Latitude: 83° 26' East

Longitude: 27° 31' North

Altitude: 110masl

Distance from East-West highway: 26km

Population: 1,08,558 (2067)

Female: 52,866

Male: 55,692

Total houses: 18,763

Observation in polluted site:

Most people around the river are unaware and illiterate. They are
unknown about waste management practices so they don't care
about biodegradable and non-biodegradable substances.

The river is flowing from North to South joining Nepal and India.
Major time, the river is full of water, rarely drying during winter
season.
During our visit, we saw the river as dumping location i.e. there were
pile of decomposed materials that came from residing places. We
observed following materials or pollutants on the river bank:
1. Wastes from UCMS hospital
2. Wastes from near brick kin
3. Plastic bags
4. Plastic bottles
5. Waste food materials
6. Damaged domestic wares
7. Man and animal excreta
8. Dead bodies of animals
9. Plant materials
10. Surface run off from agricultural land
11. Old clothes and various residues from nearby chinchwad
market
The main factors/causes that results the pollution was found are as
follows:
• Irrigation water for cultivating different crops.
• Different animals wallow in the river.

• People are disposing different waste materials coming from

household and small industrial activities.
• Random fishing and overfishing in the river by using poisons.
• Cremation of people on the river bank
• Swimming in the river.
• Surface run off from agricultural land
• Eutrophication
• Lack of awareness and activeness among local people for
conducting sanitation campaign
• Lack of proper rules and regulations, programs for removal of
heap of pollutants by the side of Dhaneshwar Bridge by the
Municipality or other Governmental sectors.

• Lack of proper implementation of existing rules and regulation on

Water
• Resource Management

Consequences:
• The river is being polluted due to different human activities
which is not eco-friendly.
The heap of pollutants in Pawna river looked as if it is a dumping
site not a river.
• It has totally damaged the beautiful scenario of river. Very bad
smell could be easily felt while walking by the water sources.
• The water has become impure and unusable for human and
animals.
• Extreme eutrophication has been observed in the river which has
resulted in the reduction of the available oxygen in the river.
Increase in nutrient content and biological growth is causing
consequent decrease of oxygen supplies.
• Water quality seemed to be totally degraded and when it is used
for domestic purposes,
• it may cause water related illness such as typhoid, cholera,
dysentery, skin allergies etc.
• Loss of soil fertility and productivity is also a major problems
caused by Pawna river pollution.
Due to the foul smell of the river and the other pollutants the
recreational value of river has decreased.

Photo: High algal growth at polluted river (Eutrophication)

Remedial Measures:
Here are some measures suggested to reduce the problems faced
due to the Pawna river water pollution:
1. The major cause of pollution is human behavior. It should be
changed.
2. Proper selection and management of dumping sites.
3. Use of Bio-degradable substances as compost manures.
4. Application of '3 R' principle; Recycle, Reduce, Reuse
5. Management of dustbins by household itself and municipality
in several places.
6. Development of new residential areas without sanitation
provision should be prohibited.
7. Proper implementation of rules and regulations, programs for
removal of heap of pollutants by the side of Dhaneshwar Bridge
by the Municipality or other Governmental sectors.
8. Establishment of toilet in every house for the safe disposal and
provision for reuse of disposed material in field should be made to
increase the fertility of soil.
9. Cremation by the side of the river should be prohibited.
10. Dead bodies of animals and waste material should be disposed
in distance from water resources.
11. Wallowing of animals in water resources should be strictly
controlled.
12. Planting ground cover and stabilizing erosion prone areas.
13. Controlled fishing, using of poison during fishing is strictly
prohibited.
14. Cleaning campaign must be launched from local level.
15. Strict implementation of "polluters' pay" principle.
16. Shifting of Chinchwad market to the area far from water
resources may be the one solution to reduce the water pollution
near the site.
17. Government should formulate and implement waste
management strategies in the region of polluted areas.
18. Solid wastes must be reuse and recycle.
19. Public awareness against water pollution must be raised
20. For management of water wastes recycling factories must be
established.
21. Proper dumping site must be established for non-degradable
solid wastes.
22. Every home, school, offices must be use dustbin separately.
23. Farmers must be given awareness about excessive use of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
24. Various NGOs, INGOs should conduct community sanitation
programme.
25. Strict government act must be passed.
26. Use of decomposable materials and discard using of non
renewable materials
27. Emphasis on using renewable solid materials and proper
utilization with reuse must.

Summary and Conclusion:

Water is the most important natural resource of environment that

supports life on the Earth. The visited locality is undergoing rapid
pollution because what most of the people fail to realize is that
they will never truly destroy the natural resources and the
resources will always remain. This trend is creating more and
more pollution in the environment. So, there is utmost need of
changing peoples' thought about their activities. Thus, we
suggested some recommendations for the solution for the
pollution of water resources in Chinchwad areas.
 References:
 Google
 Wikipedia
 EVS reference books.
Made by Anjali Sambyal
Roll no. 10
Class :SY B.COM(FM)