How does the pollution of the Yamuna River affect the local people?

By: Nathan Coyle

Background
The Yamuna River starts flowing in the Yamunotri Mountains and is a tributary of the Ganges. It starts of clean but as it reaches the city of New Delhi the pollution begins. Where the river flows through Delhi is surrounded by slums. The people in these slums are just beginning to realize the pollution and the government is just beginning to act.

Who's polluting the Yamuna River?

Mainly the people are dumping into the Yamuna River. This is because they don't realize what all the waste is doing. It isn't only effecting the River and the environment but the people in return. The other cause for waste is the sewage. There is 300 sewage treatment plans but they are poorly placed. Meaning they run right into the Yamuna. Only forty-eight percent of the sewage is cleaned which means, sadly the rest goes to the Yamuna. There are people who do Pujas on the Yamuna River and are just throwing away the material they use. Another main pollutant of the Yamuna is the industries especially the Seri companies dumping their fabric material.

There are many affects on humans that can cause serious health problems. These are called Pathogens, or living organisms in the water. Examples of these are fungi, intestinal worms, and different bacteria. Some algae can be very toxic to humans and dangerous to fish as well. These may produce typhoid, giardiasis, amoebiasis, ascariasis, and hookworm. All of these diseases are affecting the human body greatly. If the water is so polluted it could even cause liver and kidney damage. These people in the slums are getting these because it is their main source for water. The people bath, clean their clothes, and maybe the water gets into their food as well coming to them indirectly. The consumption of fish with these diseases are very harmful to the body. Water around the world if at the right time is made almost like a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Which for the people living near the river is like automatically affecting them. The malaria that these mosquitoes can carry kill 1.2-2.7 million people a year.

Effects on Humans

What the people are doing to stop the pollution in the river?
The government has seen the pollution of the Yamuna river grow for a very long time but since has done nothing to stop it. Like I stated before they have tried places drains and sewage plans but they are mostly not working. The main reason the government has not done anything yet is mainly because of the caste system. The people living in the slums are such a low caste that the government is doing nothing to help them. The people rich and poor are throwing away their trash into the Yamuna. " We have done nothing?, I didn't throw anything away?" that is what the local people say and is why they need to act. People in the slums think that they are not doing anything when they dump into the river.They also think that there is no other option.

Conclusion
This is a model for different countries that if you are not going to make a change if your river is starting to get polluted you need to change now. Or the river that you use are going to end up like the Yamuna. I think that the people really need to be aware or told the information on what they are doing to pollute their river. Because if the people are not aware of the problem with pollution they will continue to dump. This problem is also with oceans around the world because many beaches will get polluted because of garbage. So I think people need to think, just like people by the Yamuna one piece of garbage from each person will create problem.

Citation

Thousands of Fish Dead in the India's Yamuna River. 2011. Youtube. "River Yamuna Delhi Pollution and Its Control." River Yamuna Delhi Pollution and Its Control. 2010. Web. 2012. <http://www.cag.gov.in/EnvironmentAudit/Presentations/Session_Rivers/5%20Dha rmendra_rivers.pdf>. YouTube. YouTube. YouTube, 05 June 2011. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WutUdPwYMZo>. "ARE YOU AT RISK OF POLLUTION EXPOSURE?" Environmental Pollution Centers. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://www.environmentalpollutioncenters.org/>. "Yamuna River Water Pollution." 2012. Web. 2012.