dna edit: Floating mass of waste

Our rivers and seas have been forced to change colour. The Arabian Sea around Mumbai has turned black and frequently the sea breeze brings in a terrible smell; the water of the Ganges is murky, while Yamuna looks inky black. These muddied shades are the consequences of sustained abuse of water bodies. Over a  period of time these have been receiving  all forms of waste — human and industrial — with the sewage pipes of towns and cities discharging hazardous effluents every day, and causing irreversible damage to the aquatic population.

In just a year, the coastal waters of the island city have deteriorated even further due to an alarming rise in concentration of  faecal coliform, found in human excreta. While the accepted standard is 500/100 ml of water, at several places along the west coast, it’s almost three times that figure. Versova, however, has the maximum concentration of 1650, followed by Haji Ali, Gateway of India, Worli Sea-face and Girgaum Chowpatty. What’s shocking is that in Versova, the rise has been more than 100 per cent, while in Juhu it’s 45 per cent.

Instead of taking remedial measures, our civic officials appear helpless when they attribute it to untreated sewage flowing into the sea. They must be told that such high levels of faecal coliform expose people to multiple diseases. In space-starved Mumbai where a significant population spends a lifetime in one-bedroom flats or in slums, the sea-front provides a respite from claustrophobic spaces. But the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the state government, ironically, do not think much of this rare, natural gift. An inefficient waste-disposal system, unable to treat an ever-growing volume of sewage because of lack of treatment plants, uses the sea as a wasteland. The toxic water has driven the fish and other aquatic life further away from the shore.

Mahim Bay, which is today considered one of the most polluted areas in the country, used to have a healthy ecosystem with fisheries, oyster beds, mangroves and migrating birds. The same city had turned the once-vibrant Mithi river into a sewage canal.

But why blame Mumbai alone, when Kolkata alone discharges millions of tons of sewage annually into the Ganges. It remains to be seen how effective the Ganga Action Plan can be to at least contain some of the damage. The Bay of Bengal hasn’t been spared either of reckless dumping from the towns and cities bordering it. However, the Yamuna’s plight is possibly the worst. A 600-km stretch of the river surrounding Delhi has been declared dead. Latest data shows that the pollution now starts from Panipat in Haryana, almost 100km upstream of Wazirabad.

The situation looks scary for the entire country. Currently, 70-80 per cent of India’s wastewater is ending up in its rivers and lakes. The Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi has estimated that by 2047, waste generation in India’s urban centres will increase five-fold to touch 260 million tonnes per year. The day is not far when cities and will drown in their own filth, unless drastic measures are initiated right now. There is only so much the rivers and oceans can take.