Urbanization and industrialization have contributed to water pollution in India through pesticide runoff and heavy metal contamination. Untreated sewage is also a major source of water pollution as it increases biological oxygen demand and nutrient loading when released into water bodies. Certain religious practices also pollute rivers, as statues immersed during festivals contain chemicals and dead bodies released into rivers introduce bacteria. However, Rajender Sigh has worked to clean rivers for over three decades to help address water pollution issues in India caused by various sources.

1. Water Pollution Issues In India
Umi Raihanah Bt Muhd Sam

2. Urbanization at an uncontrolled rate
• Urbanization in India which lead to the
water pollution in India has a wide
range of causes, ranging from pesticide
runoff due to its usage in agriculture,
heavy metal contamination caused by
irresponsible factories and mines.
• With the increasing scale of pollution in
India. Pollutants already existing in
water bodies do not go away easily, as
there is a build-up of their
concentrations over time and side
problem such as
 bio-accumulation
 bio-magnification in animals in the
marine food chain, sometimes leading
to humans at the top of the chain.

3. The untreated sewage flows
•Sewage refers to liquid wastes that are a mixture of human excreta and
non-industrial wastes from washing, cleaning, cooking, and showering
etc.
• Untreated sewage is a major source of water pollution in India, as well as
many other countries globally, as untreated sewage can lead to surface
runoff and seepage and release into water bodies.
•Untreated sewage that ends up in water bodies increases the biological
oxygen demand and nutrient loading of the water.
• On health impact, untreated sewage in water bodies causes microbial
contamination as many waterborne pathogens are present in the sewage.

4. Religious Malpractices
• Immersing statues of deities in the river
is a highlight of several major festivals.
• The paint and decorations on the
statues are not environmentally friendly
so the chemicals used in their making,
pollute the rivers badly which in turn
affects the flora and fauna.
• During the festival season of
September-October, thousands of
statues are immersed.

5. • Religious practices such
as the burning of corpses
in the Ganges River.
• There are also some
cities along the banks of
the river where after the
death of a person, his
body is drained into the
water. The body rots
increases the number of
bacteria in the water,
which emits foul smell
and the water gets
polluted This photo shows the dead body
floating down the Ganges river in
Varanasi, India.

6. Rajender Sigh who is known as
Waterman of Indian
• Based on his observation ,in Hindu,
holy men, pregnant women, people
with leprosy or chicken pox, people
bitten by snakes, those who commit
suicide, the poor and children below
five years old are not cremated but
floated in the water to decompose.
• So he took the measures to
overcome the pollution issues by
campaigning for the cleaning of
several small and big rivers in the
India for more than three decades.