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Mahesh

20/11/22 18:30 PM IST

India needs waste management, process control to prevent antibiotic pollution

In News 
  • Almost half, or 43 per cent, of the world’s rivers are contaminated with active pharmaceutical ingredients in concentrations that can have disastrous ramifications on health.
  • The industry must prioritise wastewater management and process controls to limit antibiotic pollution and AMR.
Waste Water
  • Wastewater is the polluted form of water generated from rainwater runoff and human activities and is also called sewage.
  • It is typically categorized by the manner in which it is generated—specifically, as domestic sewage, industrial sewage, or storm sewage (stormwater).
  • Normally, raw sewage dumped into a water body can clean itself through a natural process of stream cleaning and self-purification.
  • But the rise in population, as well as large-scale urbanization, has led to an increase in sewage discharge that far exceeds the rate of natural purification.
  • The excess nutrients thus generated cause eutrophication in the water body and gradual deterioration of the water quality.
  • Eutrophication is the process of a water body becoming overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which induces excessive growth of algae or algal bloom, thereby, leading to oxygen depletion of the water body.
Wastewater management in India 
  • According to a report published by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2021, India’s current water treatment capacity is 27.3% and the sewage treatment capacity is 18.6% (with another 5.2 % capacity being added).
  • Although India’s waste and sewage treatment capacity is higher than the global average of around 20%, it is far from adequate, and without swift measures and not scaling up the sewage treatment capacity may have serious consequences.
  • As per government statistics, 62.5% of wastewater in urban India remained untreated or partially treated.
  • According to a 2019 research report, most of the sewage treatment plants established under the Ganga Action Plan and Yamuna Action Plan are not working, and out of the 33000 million litres per day (MLD) of waste generated, only 7000 MLD is collected and treated.
Measures Taken by Govt
  • The Indian government shifted its focus to solid waste, sludge and greywater management under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 (SBM 2.0).
  • Following a sustained focus on achieving Open Defecation-Free (ODF) status, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) developed detailed criteria for cities to achieve ODF+, ODF++ and Water+ statuses.
  • Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Mission, sewerage & septage management projects were launched by MoHUA.
Source- DTE 

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