{"id":97925,"date":"2021-03-25T23:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=97925"},"modified":"2021-03-26T10:49:52","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T05:19:52","slug":"water-conservation-is-must-for-preventing-another-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/water-conservation-is-must-for-preventing-another-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Water conservation is must for preventing another pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: NITI Aayog has expressed concerns over the poor water quality in India. This gives a conducive environment for the spread of another pandemic through the water. Thus, it requires an effective mechanism for water conservation.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NITI Aayog, Water Aid, and others have found that <strong>over 70% of India\u2019s surface and groundwater is contaminated<\/strong> by human and other waste.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The contaminated water can be a breeding ground for numerous viruses causing another Pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>How the virus spreads through contaminated water?<\/b><\/h5>\n<p>Dangerous viruses can spread from animals to humans through the consumption of their meat. The closeness creates an artificial environment that can give birth to mutations in erstwhile dormant viruses.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After infecting a human, the virus can easily proliferate in wastewater.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For instance, several wastewater samples were tested and were found to carry <\/span><b>traces of SARS-CoV-2 in England, Wales and Scotland<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Traces of the virus have also been detected in raw sewage across Sydney.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Astrovirus, hepatitis A and norovirus are some water-transmitted viral pathogens.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Need for water conservation in India<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Firstly, the wastewater gets discharged into the river. Thus, it becomes a very <\/span><b>generous host for viruses <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by carrying human waste, sewage, and toxic waste. This breeds more proliferation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, a huge population is <\/span><b>dependent on polluted water sources <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for meeting their drinking requirements thereby enhancing the vulnerability. There is also a concern of growing demand in the future due to the <\/span><b>rising population.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thirdly, the <\/span><b>success of schemes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like Nal se Jal demands the conservation of water.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The scheme aims to provide drinking water connections to every rural household by 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fourthly, the<\/span><b> techniques used for water purification<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> like RO (reverse osmosis) are very costly and unaffordable for the majority population. Further, they extract the essential minerals from the water along with containments.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lastly,<b> destruction of natural resources<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is happening at a rapid pace as our development model focuses on building artificial infrastructure. This involves the creation of highways, industrial plants, high-rise structures, etc. at the cost of natural infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Is there any clean source of water left?<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are two unpolluted freshwater sources left in the country &#8211;\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water lying below our forest<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aquifers below the river floodplain<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both provide natural underground storage and are annually recharged by rain water.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>modest drinking requirement (2-3 litres)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can be met with water below our forests.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, <\/span><b>river floodplains are a great source of water for cities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Delhi Government is already using water from Yamuna floodplains to meet the requirement of million people.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Way Forward:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We must focus on conservation techniques for solving the water problem like:\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Using only a fraction<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the annual recharge of water bodies and aquifers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Declaring Forests and floodplains as <\/span><b>water sanctuaries.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no technological substitute for living natural resources like pristine natural water and soil. The focus should be shifted from artificial infrastructure to natural infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GSR8DM0VQ.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> THE HINDU<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: NITI Aayog has expressed concerns over the poor water quality in India. This gives a conducive environment for the spread of another pandemic through the water. Thus, it requires an effective mechanism for water conservation. Background: NITI Aayog, Water Aid, and others have found that over 70% of India\u2019s surface and groundwater is contaminated&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/water-conservation-is-must-for-preventing-another-pandemic\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Water conservation is must for preventing another pandemic<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10322,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[1332],"class_list":["post-97925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-geog_5","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704661122},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}