Water, water everywhere!

In class, we have recently been talking in depth about the importance of water.  As we noted already, it is extremely difficult - if not impossible - to talk about any subject without somehow being able to relate it directly to water.  This reinforces the common idea of, "without water, there is no life." It is, indeed, not an exaggeration.  Since water is so integral to our lives, it is important that we not only focus on clean water for all people, but also accessible and plentiful water.  Currently, this is an issue that is at the forefront in India when it comes to problems affecting the nation’s people as a whole. 

One of the many problems that India faces with its water is the levels of contaminants that the water often contains.  One of these common pollutions is found in the form of nitrates.  This comes most often from things like fertilizers, which were introduced to India largely because of the Green Revolution, a positive revolution in and of itself, but one that comes with many repercussions that Indians are unaware of.  Indeed, it is not just India that seems to be ignorant of the things like the negative of effects of nitrogen. I was completely uneducated on nitrogen and nitrates until I read these articles and I am confident when I say that I am likely not alone in my naivety.  When runoff occurs in areas where agriculture is being treated by fertilizers, nitrogen is converted to nitrate and it is transferred through the water, to the ground and eventually back up either into the crops or evaporated into the atmosphere.  The movement into crops is a huge problem.  Not only is the water and groundwater now affected with nitrates, but the food that Indians will eat also contains nitrates.  When nitrates are ingested through drinking water, they are converted to nitrites which attach to our blood (hemoglobin) and form methaemoglobin, forming methaemoglobinemia (Gupta, Gupta, Chhabra, Eskiocak, Gupta, & Gupta, 2008). 

The presence of nitrates has an enormous potential effect on the health of children, in particularly infants.  It has been shown that overexposure to nitrates can cause asthma, diabetes, problems with the thyroid and adrenal gland, birth defects and many different types of cancer (nitrites have been exposed as a carcinogen) (Gupta, Gupta, Chhabra, Eskiocak, Gupta, & Gupta, 2008).  On top of having such a threat to infants, the unborn child is at risk as well, because nitrates can actually pass through the placental wall and be transferred to the unborn baby when ingested by the mother (Gupta, Gupta, Chhabra, Eskiocak, Gupta, & Gupta, 2008).  Clearly, nitrates pose a major problem to India and its quality of water. It is imperative that steps be taken to implement policies that will better educate the public on the effects of nitrates and the importance of finding ways to reduce their presence.

Another issue that India faces is distribution of its water throughout the country.  The nation is very diverse climate-wise and ecologically.  Many of its states experience large rainfalls during monsoon season, while others remain much drier.  This (and availability of rivers and water basins) results in disparities in the dispersion patterns of water availability.  One of the ways that India has implemented in order to combat this issue is Inter-Basin Water Transfer (IBWT). In simplified terms, IBWT is when water is transferred from a basin with a surplus to a water basin that is experiencing a deficit (Thatte, 2007).  According to Thatte, rainfall over all of India is adequate, however the distribution is not.  The average usable water available each year is about 1300 billion cubic meters, distributed across the entire country (Thatte, 2007).  At the time of this article, India was implementing a plan to increase the IBWT system in the country and to expand it to 30 different IBWT links; some of these have been finished already and many have yet to happen, the goal is to be finished with all of them by 2025 (Thatte, 2007).  Although there are many positives to IBWT, there are also many consequences.  Redistribution of water often causes many communities to have to move, uprooting the economic and cultural structure of those societies and leaving many of them with no work.  Also, if one area of the country has a more highly contaminated water system than another (say, an area that is more agriculturally based) it would be transferred to the other areas during the process of IBWT.  This could introduce many unexpected problems. 

Overall however, if precautions are kept in mind and measures are taken to ensure that the water quality can be improved, the long term effects that IBWT could have on Indian society are extremely positive. 

Works Cited

Gupta, S. K., Gupta, R., Chhabra, S., Eskiocak, S., Gupta, A., & Gupta, R. (2008). Health issues related to N pollution in water and air. Current Science Vol. 94, No. 11 , 1469-1476.

Thatte, C. (2007). Inter-Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) for the Augmentation of Water Resources in India: A Review of Needs, Plans, Status and Prospects. Water Resources Development, Vol. 23. No. 4 , 709-725.