Question

A 2-3minutes speech on river pollution

Answer 1

In India, river pollution has crossed the mark of crisis. Three important river systems of the north like Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra are suffering from pollution.

Fresh water is only 2.7 per cent out of total water available in nature. The remaining 97.3 per cent is saline water. Out of the total fresh water (2.7%), 0.003 per cent water exists in rivers, whose total volume is 108 cubic km while the volume of water existing in lakes is 1, 26,070 cubic km. Thus, the water deposit in lakes is more than the water deposit in rivers.

But even though water of rivers is lesser than that of lakes, river water is more important because it is distributed over a larger part. River water continues flowing and does not remain in any river for more than two weeks whereas, water of lakes remains there for years.

River water is used to a maximum extent because of its common reach to the biotic community. Maximum economic activities concentrate around rivers. At present, 50 per cent population of the world resides in 250 river basins, where they use river water for different activities including agriculture and industry. In India, dense population is settled near the banks of rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Damodar, Hooghly, Cauvery, Godavari and Chambal. This has polluted these rivers to a large extent. Rhine river of Europe, literal meaning of which is pure (Rhine=Pure), is polluted to a great extent.

In Ruhar river basin, at the junction of river Rhine and river Ruhar, death is caused by bathing and swimming there. Every hour 1,200 ton polluted salts are disposed off in river Rhine. Due to pollution, Rhine is called “Europe’s Sewage Ditch’. Water of river Rhine sustains about 20 million persons who are suffering health hazards continuously due to pollution of water.

The main river Seine of France on whose banks the city of Paris is located is being polluted incessantly. Heaps of dead fish and sewage foam are spreading near its banks. According to one study, in the total length from Paris on river Seine to La Harre (Port located in the English Channel), about one million cubic metre polluted sewage water is disposed. Similarly in Po river of Italy, about 300 million ton wastes are disposed off every year. Rivers of Scandinavian region are being polluted by acid rain caused due to winds coming from the side of Great Britain and Germany, which carry sulphuric acid in them.