Status of Water and Water Pollution

Naveen Kumar

Abstract

The rapid population growth, unplanned industrialization, and urbanization during the last century, gave rise to several undesirable conditions, including increased amount of wastewater generation. At one hand, demand of fresh water was increased continuously during the last decade and on the other hand volume of wastewater generation was also increased which puts a pressure on this valuable resource. India is dealing with a severe and growing water issue. The catchments, water-holding, and water-harvesting capabilities of the rivers are degrading, they are becoming more polluted, and groundwater levels are dropping alarmingly fast. India had both drought and flooding in different areas last year, Kerala and the Cauvery basin in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are the best examples for this. Treatment of wastewater is also a main problem that India faced during the last decade. More than 50% wastewater was released untreated in the surface water bodies due to lack of treatment facilities. In the present study, we focused on importance of water resource, major challenges, status of wastewater generation, and treatment methodologies.