Rajasthan is the driest state in India. Second is Karnataka. The situation is so alarming that the Central government has appointed a Drought Monitoring Cell in the state, said science writer T R Anantharamu here on Sunday.

He spoke on the importance of water bodies and how they are being polluted, affecting the population dependent on them. Terming rivers as the ‘cradles of culture’, he lamented over the pollution of rivers. Quoting Vrishabhavathi river, a tertiary for the river Cauvery, in Bangalore as an example, he alleged that 79 factories along the basin of the river discharge lead and other toxic chemicals directly into the river.

In another example, he said the Caspian sea, equivalent to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in size, has been completely polluted, due to effluent discharge from factories in Russia to river Volga, which reaches the sea, he said.

Speaking on the need to curb pollution to save water bodies, he criticised the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board for its failure and said the limits set by the board was not efficient.

Consequences

He said the Board has failed in performing its duty, which might result in disastrous consequences.
Pollution has resulted in the extinction of species at the rate of one everyday, he said. He said polar bears are being rescued in Greenland and Arctic regions, due to loss of habitat owing to global warming.

Urbanisation

He said extensive urbanisation and pollution has adversely affected the environment. Due to the increase in carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere, temperature has risen. This has resulted in melting glaciers and polar ice-caps, he explained.

Environmentalist G N S Reddy said depleting groundwater levels have forced people to dig deeper borewells.

“Consuming fluoride present in deeper groundwater influences aging process. A 30-year-old person looks like 60-year-old. Such a phenomenon has been observed in Karnataka,” he said.