Chapter 15
An Overview of Natural Water
Contamination and Sustainable
Attenuation Techniques: Challenges
and Opportunities
Nivedita Pradhan, Santanu Mukherjee, and Manish Kumar
15.1 Introduction
India with a population of more than 1.30 billion shares nearly 17% of the world population and holds nearly about 4.2% of global freshwater supply. It is estimated that
approx. 20 Indian cities will have scarcity of fresh/drinking water (40% of Indian population) by 2030. According to Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI) report
(CWMI 2018), there is a dire necessity of Sustainable Water Management Practices
(SWMP) to manage aquatic ecosystems both in terms of quality and quantity which
on the other hand will impair the food security of the nation. The supply of fresh
and quality water is utmost important to have better crop production, regulation of
daily human activities, industrial operations, recreational operations, and some other
major horticultural operations. The contamination of water resources exacerbates the
ecological balance by causing problems to human health and restoration of surface
water bodies. Therefore, the fate, occurrence, and sources of different contaminants
and their regulations along with their different types are summarized in this section.
This is explained in Fig. 15.1, where spreading of contaminants arising from land
use management and anthropogenic activities has been depicted along with their natural attenuation strategies through rainfall and surface runoff activities to the nearby
waterbodies.
N. Pradhan
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat 382355, India
S. Mukherjee · M. Kumar (B)
Discipline of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
382355, India
e-mail: manish.kumar@iitgn.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Kumar et al. (eds.), Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources,
Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_15
349
An Overview of Natural Water
Contamination and Sustainable
Attenuation Techniques: Challenges
and Opportunities
Nivedita Pradhan, Santanu Mukherjee, and Manish Kumar
15.1 Introduction
India with a population of more than 1.30 billion shares nearly 17% of the world population and holds nearly about 4.2% of global freshwater supply. It is estimated that
approx. 20 Indian cities will have scarcity of fresh/drinking water (40% of Indian population) by 2030. According to Composite Water Management Index’ (CWMI) report
(CWMI 2018), there is a dire necessity of Sustainable Water Management Practices
(SWMP) to manage aquatic ecosystems both in terms of quality and quantity which
on the other hand will impair the food security of the nation. The supply of fresh
and quality water is utmost important to have better crop production, regulation of
daily human activities, industrial operations, recreational operations, and some other
major horticultural operations. The contamination of water resources exacerbates the
ecological balance by causing problems to human health and restoration of surface
water bodies. Therefore, the fate, occurrence, and sources of different contaminants
and their regulations along with their different types are summarized in this section.
This is explained in Fig. 15.1, where spreading of contaminants arising from land
use management and anthropogenic activities has been depicted along with their natural attenuation strategies through rainfall and surface runoff activities to the nearby
waterbodies.
N. Pradhan
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat 382355, India
S. Mukherjee · M. Kumar (B)
Discipline of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
382355, India
e-mail: manish.kumar@iitgn.ac.in
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Kumar et al. (eds.), Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources,
Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_15
349