80% Wastewater Left Untreated, 70% of Delhi Water Impure: Reports

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About 80 percent of the world's wastewater is discharged into the environment without any treatment, said a UN report released on Wednesday in Durban, South Africa, on the occasion of World Water Day.

While wastewater treatment levels can reach 70 percent in high-income countries, the ratio in upper-middle-income and in lower-middle-income countries drops to 38 percent and 28 percent, respectively, said the UN World Water Development Report.

In Delhi itself, 70 percent of the samples collected from 23 different places in Delhi were found to be impure.

Quoting Dr VK Monga, who is the former chairman of MCD’s public health committee Hindustan Times reported:

At least 20 percent of Delhi people are not getting drinkable water by Indian standards.

“In low-income countries, only eight percent of industrial and municipal wastewater undergoes treatment of any kind,” the report said, warning of the increasing damage to public health and environment in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

According to the report, inadequate infrastructure, lack of technical and institutional capacity and financial resources explain the inefficiency of wastewater management in the low-income countries.

The worst situations are in the large cities of Third World countries due to high population growth and the inability to meet minimum sanitation conditions and hygiene.

Under these circumstances, all the water consumed is discharged directly into the closest surface water drain, or informal drainage channel, without or with very little treatment.

This damages numerous coastal, river and marine ecosystems, and triggering the transmission of contagious diseases among people.

By 2030, the UN expects to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase safe water reuse worldwide.

(With inputs from IANS)