India's Water Pollution: Strategies For A Cleaner Future

India's water crisis is a critical issue, with the country's booming population and rapid urbanisation exerting immense pressure on its limited water resources. The country, which has 18% of the world's population, only possesses 4% of its freshwater, and an overwhelming majority of Indians face high to extreme water stress. Water pollution exacerbates this crisis, with up to 80% of India's water contaminated by untreated sewage, agricultural runoff, and industrial waste. This pollution has severe health, social, and economic impacts, contributing to diseases, unsustainable environments for aquatic life, and losses in the fishing industry, which employs over 145 million people. However, India is not powerless in the face of this crisis and is actively exploring solutions, including community-led groundwater management programs, initiatives to recycle plastic waste, and the utilisation of machine learning to predict and address water pollution.

India's water pollution crisis

India's water crisis is a critical issue, with the country's limited water resources under immense stress from pollution, rapid urbanisation, and a booming population. With 18% of the world's population, India has only 4% of its water, making it one of the most water-stressed countries. This stress is exacerbated by erratic monsoons and the impacts of climate change, including increased frequency and intensity of floods and droughts.

The largest source of water pollution in India is untreated sewage, with rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, and Mithi bearing the brunt of this pollution. Sewage from cities, towns, and villages is discharged into these rivers, with over 70% of India's surface water unfit for consumption. Industrial wastewater is another significant contributor, as hazardous waste containing heavy metals and chemicals is often directly released into waterways. The introduction of agrochemicals and pesticides into water bodies further exacerbates the problem, leading to bioaccumulation and severe health risks for both aquatic life and humans.

The Indian government, with support from the World Bank, has initiated various projects to address the water crisis. The Ganga River rejuvenation project aims to manage and clean India's most iconic river through infrastructure development and pollution control. Additionally, the Atal Bhujal Yojana programme focuses on groundwater management, empowering communities to understand their water availability and budget their usage. The government has also prioritised bringing clean drinking water to rural communities, improving access and sanitation services.

At the state level, initiatives like Kerala's ocean plastic recycling programme and the Suchitwa Sagaram (Clean Sea) project demonstrate a commitment to environmental conservation. Kerala's initiative recycles plastic into road construction materials, preserving the fishing industry and protecting the environment. Similarly, the Clean Sea project encourages fishermen to collect plastic pollution instead of discarding it back into the sea, with the collected plastic used in road construction.

While these efforts are commendable, India's water crisis persists, and the scarcity of clean water negatively impacts health, the economy, and industrial development. To address this crisis effectively, India needs a long-term commitment from its government and the assistance of outside resources.

Water quality monitoring and data collection

India's booming population and rapidly expanding urban areas have had a huge impact on its rivers, which are now badly polluted. The largest source of water pollution in India is untreated sewage, with major cities producing 38,354 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage, but with only 11,786 MLD of urban sewage treatment capacity. Sewage from cities is the biggest source of organic pollution in India's most iconic river, the Ganga, into which over 100 towns and cities pour their domestic sewage.

The Central Pollution Control Board, a Ministry of Environment & Forests Government of India entity, has established a National Water Quality Monitoring Network comprising 1,429 monitoring stations in 28 states and 6 in Union Territories on various rivers and water bodies across the country. This effort monitors water quality year-round, covering 293 rivers, 94 lakes, 9 tanks, 41 ponds, 8 creeks, 23 canals, 18 drains, and 411 wells distributed across India. Water samples are routinely analysed for 28 parameters including dissolved oxygen, bacteriological and other internationally established parameters for water quality. Additionally, 9 trace metal parameters and 28 pesticide residues are analysed.

Despite these efforts, a report from 2008 indicated that 33% of all water quality monitoring stations reported total coliform levels above the safe limit of 104 MPN/100 mL. This suggests that recent efforts to add pollution control infrastructure and upgrade treatment plants in India may not be reversing the water pollution trend.

To set up effective interventions to clean rivers, decision-makers must be provided with reliable, representative, and comprehensive data collected at high frequency in a disaggregated manner. The traditional approach to water quality monitoring is slow, tedious, expensive, and prone to human error, and it only allows for the testing of a limited number of samples due to a lack of infrastructure and resources.

Using automated, geotagged, time-stamped, real-time sensors to gather data in a non-stationary manner, researchers at the Tata Centre for Development at UChicago have been able to pinpoint pollution hotspots in rivers and identify the spread of pollution locally. Such high-resolution mapping of river water quality over space and time is gaining traction as a tool to support regulatory compliance decision-making, as an early warning indicator for ecological degradation, and as a reliable system to assess the efficacy of sanitation interventions.

Water treatment and sewage infrastructure

India's water crisis is a critical issue, with the country having 18% of the world's population but only 4% of its water resources. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that a large percentage of India's water is polluted. The largest source of water pollution in India is untreated sewage, with major cities producing 38,354 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage, but the urban sewage treatment capacity is only 11,786 MLD. This has led to the severe pollution of many Indian rivers, including the Ganga, which is worshipped by millions as a living goddess.

To address this issue, there have been efforts to improve water treatment and sewage infrastructure in India. The World Bank has been supporting the Government of India's efforts to rejuvenate the Ganga River since 2011, with projects worth $1 billion helping to set up the institutions needed to manage the river and build the necessary infrastructure to keep it clean. Additionally, Chennai has become the first Indian city to recycle its wastewater at scale to meet the non-drinking water needs of its industries. Two Tertiary Treatment Reverse Osmosis (TTRO) plants will be able to recycle about 20% of Chennai's sewage, reducing the city's consumption of freshwater.

In terms of sewage infrastructure, India's Central Pollution Control Board has established a National Water Quality Monitoring Network comprising 1,429 monitoring stations in 28 states and 6 Union Territories, covering various rivers, lakes, ponds, canals, and other water bodies. This network routinely analyses water samples for various parameters, including dissolved oxygen and bacteriological content, to monitor water quality year-round.

Technology and data are also playing a crucial role in improving water treatment and sewage infrastructure in India. Machine learning models are being developed to predict water pollution levels and provide new insights for policy-making. Automated, geotagged, time-stamped, real-time sensors are being used to gather data and pinpoint pollution hotspots, supporting regulatory compliance and decision-making.

Furthermore, community-led initiatives and government programs are working to improve groundwater management and reduce groundwater usage. For example, the "Paani Bachao, Paisa Kamao" (Save Water, Earn Money) scheme in the state of Punjab incentivizes farmers to reduce groundwater usage. Additionally, the Indian state of Kerala has started an initiative to recycle ocean plastic into materials for road construction, helping to protect the environment and provide jobs for local fishermen and women.

Groundwater conservation and management

India is facing a water crisis. With 18% of the world's population, it only has 4% of its water resources. The country is heavily dependent on erratic monsoons for its water requirements, and climate change is expected to put even more pressure on water resources. As India continues to urbanize, its water bodies are becoming increasingly toxic, with around 70% of surface water unfit for consumption.

Groundwater is one of the most important sources of water for India, serving about 80% of domestic water supplies and 45% of irrigation water requirements. However, excessive groundwater extraction has led to depletion, and it is estimated that over-extraction at the current rate can make nearly 60% of India's aquifers critical and threaten nearly 80% of drinking water over the next two decades.

To address this issue, the World Bank is supporting the government's national groundwater program, the Atal Bhujal Yojana, which is the world's largest community-led groundwater management program. This program is implemented in 8,220 gram panchayats across seven Indian states, and it helps villagers understand their water availability and usage patterns so they can budget their water use accordingly.

In the state of Punjab, where tubewell irrigation is causing the water table to fall drastically, the World Bank helped the state government pilot an innovative scheme called "Paani Bachao, Paisa Kamao" (Save Water, Earn Money). This scheme incentivizes farmers to reduce groundwater usage.

To promote sustainable groundwater management, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) have implemented guidelines and regulations. The CGWA has the authority to declare certain zones as "notified areas" with stringent regulations, such as restricting energy use for water extraction. The CGWB has also conducted assessments to identify regions that are overexploited or critical and semi-critical.

While these initiatives are a step in the right direction, sustainable policies, robust monitoring systems, and comprehensive legal frameworks that consider climate change risks are still needed to tackle the urgent challenges facing groundwater in India.

Economic and health impacts of water pollution

Water pollution in India has severe consequences for human health, the environment, the economy, and society. It is estimated that the health costs of water pollution in India amount to about $6.7–8.7 billion per year. In addition, India has spent billions of dollars on clean-up efforts, yet serious water pollution still persists.

Health Impacts

Water pollution is a significant cause of waterborne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A, and diarrhea, which can be fatal if left untreated. Every year, more than 400,000 Indians die from diarrheal illness due to inadequate sanitation and hygiene. Contaminated water can also cause gastrointestinal damage, renal damage, and impaired cognitive function.

Economic Impacts

The economic impact of water pollution in India includes costs associated with healthcare, loss of livelihoods (especially for fishing communities), and expenses for water treatment and purification. Water pollution can also impact the economy by reducing fish populations and damaging tourist destinations.

In addition, water pollution upstream could cut economic growth in downstream regions by nearly a half percentage point. For example, in the city of Kanpur, the public demand for water quality was low in the past as people were more concerned about the impact of water pollution policy on the economy, as they depended on the highly river-polluting tanning industry for jobs.

Other Impacts

Water pollution also has detrimental effects on the environment, including aquatic life and ecosystems. Pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals harm aquatic ecosystems, disrupt the balance of ecosystems, lead to the decline of fish and other aquatic organisms, cause a loss of biodiversity, and degrade habitats.

Frequently asked questions