EUTROPHICATION IS KILLING RANCHI PONDS.

EUTROPHICATION IS KILLING RANCHI PONDS.

by

DR. Nitish Priyadarshi

This are the pictures of local ponds situated in the Ranchi city, capital of Jharkhand State of India. Quality of water has been badly affected due to Cultural Eutrophication. This is the sad examples of aging of the existing ponds. All these ponds are undergoing siltation process. Also affected with sewage, domestic waste, detergent and oil and grease addition.
After becoming the capital there is a rapid increase in population, urbanization and industrialization which has lead to severe problems waste management in the city.
Due to Eutrophication and siltation and zero oxygen level there is always a foul smell from these water bodies. Now in most of the ponds there is a scarcity of fishes and other aquatic animals.
Due to less oxygen level there is always a threat of growing of pathogenic microbes, viruses, protozoa and bacteria etc. on the sewage products in the ponds. It may result into spread of fatal water-borne diseases such as polio, dysentery, typhoid, viral hepatitis etc. all these poses great threat to local poor people who unknowingly use this water for domestic purpose especially for washing clothes and bathing.
Most of the ponds are filled with water hyacinth. Water hyacinth mats degrade water quality by blocking photosynthesis, which greatly reduces oxygen levels in the water. This creates a cascading effect by reducing other underwater life such as fish and other plants. Water hyacinth also reduces biological diversity, impacts native submersed plants, alters immersed plant communities by pushing away and crushing them, and also alter animal communities by blocking access to the water and/or eliminating plants the animals depend on for shelter and nesting.
Algae was also found in surface waters of some of the ponds especially in the center of the city. Though algae help in water purification by removing carbon dioxide and adding oxygen during photosynthesis but they are harmful to health. Algae are considered to be indirectly responsible for gastroenteritis. Accumulation of dead planktons in sand filters offers a substrata for the growth of Pseudomonas which causes gastroenteritis troubles. Algae poison is considered to be one of the most virulent poison which produces cirrhosis of the liver. It also reduces the resistant power against the diseases in man. Dead algae form a mat on the surface of the water and act as a oxygen barrier.

Eutrophication in Ranchi generally speeds up in rainy season when high influx of water from the surrounding brings good amount of sediments, with domestic and small scale industrial wastes and other nutrient rich particles.
Most of the ponds now in Ranchi city is affected with Eutrophication phenomenon posing threat to the life of the ponds. It is not only the growth of water hyacinth or the Algae which are creating problem. But with the addition of nutrient reach sediments the problem is increasing many fold.
All these natural and man made ponds earlier helped in ground water recharging of the Ranchi plateau. Ranchi faces acute water crisis during summer season. Ground water gets depleted and well go dry. Earlier these ponds helped to maintain the ground water and well water level. But now due to siltation and Eutrophication ground water recharging has been stopped forcing most of the people to thrive on contaminated pond water during peak summer season. Even two dams situated around Ranchi city is also contaminated. Water supplied from these dams to the residential and commercial buildings are not safe for drinking. Every year in Ranchi district several people especially children die due to water borne diseases.
If proper steps are not taken up timely the problem is definitely going to multiply in the coming future.

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
geologist

Ranchi Lake is becoming toxic

RANCHI LAKE BECOMING TOXIC.
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi Ranchi Lake
Last year one winter morning all the fishes were found dead in one of the most famous lake of the Ranchi city. Ranchi is a capital of Jharkhand State of India. It is commonly known as Ranchi lake. Col. Osle had developed the lake in 1842. This lake is surrounded by domestic houses, commercial buildings and one big hospital. Sewage and domestic wastes, detergents, toxic metals and hospital wastes drain into this famous lake. You can also see the remains of flowers. This lake is also used for immersing Idols of different Hindu Gods and other products after the holy festivals. Idols are made of earthy soils and different colourful paints are used to make it beautiful. When the idols are immersed in water this paints, which are toxic gets dissolved in water. The soil of the idols also affects the life of the lake in the form of siltation. This process of immersion is taking place from last hundred years. Every year more than thousand idols are immersed in this lake. Water of this lake is gradually becoming toxic day by day. Water now emits foul smell.
Unfortunately fishes which were found dead were consumed by the local poor communities. Causes of the death is still not known. But to me it looks like that the water became oxygen deficient. I saw the remaining alive fishes coming on the surface to breathe. Poisoning of the lake water due to toxic metals cannot also be ruled out.

In the picture fishes are seen coming on the surface to breathe.

Groundwater concept in ancient civilization

Groundwater concept in ancient civilization
By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Historical Background:
Our ancient religious texts and epics give a good insight into the water storage and conservation systems that prevailed in those days.

Groundwater development dates from ancient times. The Old Testament contains numerous references to groundwater, springs, and wells. Other than dug wells, groundwater in ancient times was supplied from horizontal wells known as qanats. These persist to the present day and can be found in a band across the arid regions of Southwestern Asia and North Africa extending from Afghanistan to Morocco. Qanats are laboriously hand constructed by skilled workers employing techniques that date back 3000 years.
Iran possesses the greatest concentration of qanats. Here some 22,000 qanats supply 75 percent all water used in the country. Lengths of the qanats extended up to 30 km, but most are less than 5 km. The depth of the qanat mother well is normally is 50 m, but instances of depths exceeding 250 m have been reported.
Some ancient Indian methods of water conservation:

The Indus Valley Civilization, that flourished along the banks of the river Indus and other parts of western and northern India about 5,000 years ago, had one of the most sophisticated urban water supply and sewage systems in the world. The fact that the people were well acquainted with hygiene can be seen from the covered drains running beneath the streets of the ruins at both Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Another very good example is the well-planned city of Dholavira, on Khadir Bet, a low plateau in the Rann in Gujarat. One of the oldest water harvesting systems is found about 130 km from Pune along Naneghat in the Western Ghats. A large number of tanks were cut in the rocks to provide drinking water to tradesmen who used to travel along this ancient trade route. Each fort in the area had its own water harvesting and storage system in the form of rock-cut cisterns, ponds, tanks and wells that are still in use today. A large number of forts like Raigad had tanks that supplied water. In ancient times, houses in parts of western Rajasthan were built so that each had a rooftop water harvesting system. Rainwater from these rooftops was directed into underground tanks. This system can be seen even today in all the forts, palaces and houses of the region. Underground baked earthen pipes and tunnels to maintain the flow of water and to transport it to distant places, are still functional at Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Golkunda and Bijapur in Karnataka, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
Ground-water development and quality consideration were getting sufficient attention as evidenced by Vrahat Samhita (550 A. D.) Water management and conservation, well organized water pricing system in 400 B.C. Construction methods and materials of dam, tanks etc., bank protection, spillways and other considerations mentioned in the ancient books reflect the high stage of development of water resources and hydrology in ancient India.
Groundwater Theories in Ancient Philosophy:
Utilization of groundwater greatly preceded understanding of its origin, occurrence, and movement. The writings of Greek and Roman philosophers to explain the origins of springs and groundwater contain theories ranging from fantasy to nearly correct accounts. As late as the seventeenth century it was generally assumed that water emerging from springs could not be derived from rainfall, for it was believed that the quantity was inadequate and the earth too impervious to permit penetration of rain water far below the surface. Thus, early Greek philosophers such as Homer, Thales, and Plato hypothesized that springs were formed by seawater conducted through subterranean channels below the mountains, then purified and raised to the surface. Aristotle suggested that air enters the cold dark caverns under the mountains where it condenses into water and contribute to the springs.
The Roman philosophers, including Seneca and Pliny, followed the Greek ideas and contributed little to the subject. An important step forward, however, was made by the Roman architect Vitruvius. He explained that the now-accepted infiltration theory that the mountains receive large amounts of rain that perc olate through the rock strata and emerge at their base top form streams.
The Greek theories persisted through the Middle Ages with no advances until the end of the Renaissance. The French potter and philosopher Bernard Palissy (c. 1510-1589) reiterated the infiltritation theory in 1580, but his teachings were generally ignored. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was man of strong imagination who linked the earth to a huge animal that takes in water of the ocean, digests and assimilates it, and discharges the end products of these physiological processes as groundwater and springs. The seawater theory of the Greeks, supplemented by the ideas of the vaporization and condensation processes within the earth, was restated by the French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650).
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Email: rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in

WHY TO SAVE GROUNDWATER?

1. WHY TO SAVE GROUNDWATER?
   By
   DR. NITISH PRIYADARSHI
   Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of lithologic formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become fully saturated with water is called the water table.
   
   Historical Background:
   Our ancient religious texts and epics give a good insight into the water storage and conservation systems that prevailed in those days.
   Groundwater development dates from ancient times. The Old Testament contains numerous references to groundwater, springs, and wells. Other than dug wells, groundwater in ancient times was supplied from horizontal wells known as qanats. These persist to the present day and can be found in a band across the arid regions of Southwestern Asia and North Africa extending from Afghanistan to Morocco. Qanats are laboriously hand constructed by skilled workers employing techniques that date back 3000 years.
   Iran possesses the greatest concentration of qanats. Here some 22,000 qanats supply 75 percent all water used in the country. Lengths of the qanats extended up to 30 km, but most are less than 5 km. The depth of the qanat mother well is normally is 50 m, but instances of depths exceeding 250 m have been reported.
   Some ancient Indian methods of water conservation
   The Indus Valley Civilization, that flourished along the banks of the river Indus and other parts of western and northern India about 5,000 years ago, had one of the most sophisticated urban water supply and sewage systems in the world. The fact that the people were well acquainted with hygiene can be seen from the covered drains running beneath the streets of the ruins at both Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Another very good example is the well-planned city of Dholavira, on Khadir Bet, a low plateau in the Rann in Gujarat. One of the oldest water harvesting systems is found about 130 km from Pune along Naneghat in the Western Ghats. A large number of tanks were cut in the rocks to provide drinking water to tradesmen who used to travel along this ancient trade route. Each fort in the area had its own water harvesting and storage system in the form of rock-cut cisterns, ponds, tanks and wells that are still in use today. A large number of forts like Raigad had tanks that supplied water. In ancient times, houses in parts of western Rajasthan were built so that each had a rooftop water harvesting system. Rainwater from these rooftops was directed into underground tanks. This system can be seen even today in all the forts, palaces and houses of the region. Underground baked earthen pipes and tunnels to maintain the flow of water and to transport it to distant places, are still functional at Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh, Golkunda and Bijapur in Karnataka, and Aurangabad in Maharashtra.
   Ground-water development and quality consideration were getting sufficient attention as evidenced by Vrahat Samhita (550 A. D.) Water management and conservation, well organized water pricing system in 400 B.C. Construction methods and materials of dam, tanks etc., bank protection, spillways and other considerations mentioned in the ancient books reflect the high stage of development of water resources and hydrology in ancient India.
   Groundwater Theories in Ancient Philosophy:
   Utilization of groundwater greatly preceded understanding of its origin, occurrence, and movement. The writings of Greek and Roman philosophers to explain the origins of springs and groundwater contain theories ranging from fantasy to nearly correct accounts. As late as the seventeenth century it was generally assumed that water emerging from springs could not be derived from rainfall, for it was believed that the quantity was inadequate and the earth too impervious to permit penetration of rain water far below the surface. Thus, early Greek philosophers such as Homer, Thales, and Plato hypothesized that springs were formed by seawater conducted through subterranean channels below the mountains, then purified and raised to the surface. Aristotle suggested that air enters the cold dark caverns under the mountains where it condenses into water and contribute to the springs. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was man of strong imagination who linked the earth to a huge animal that takes in water of the ocean, digests and assimilates it, and discharges the end products of these physiological processes as groundwater and springs.
   Importance of Groundwater:
   Ground water is an important part of the water cycle. Ground water is the part of precipitation that seeps down through the soil until it reaches rock material that is saturated with water. Water in the ground is stored in the spaces between rock particles (no, there are no underground rivers or lakes). Ground water slowly moves underground, generally at a downward angle (because of gravity), and may eventually seep into streams, lakes, and oceans.
   The importance of groundwater for the existence of human society cannot be overemphasized. Groundwater is the major source of drinking water in both urban and rural India. Besides, it is an important source of water for the agricultural and the industrial sector. Water utilization projections for 2000 put the groundwater usage at about 50%. Being an important and integral part of the hydrological cycle, its availability depends on the rainfall and recharge conditions. Till recently it had been considered a dependable source of uncontaminated water.
   The demand for water has increased over the years and this has led to water scarcity in many parts of the world. The situation is aggravated by the problem of water pollution or contamination. World is heading towards a freshwater crisis mainly due to improper management of water resources and environmental degradation, which has lead to a lack of access to safe water supply to millions of people. This freshwater crisis is already evident in many parts of India, varying in scale and intensity depending mainly on the time of the year.
   Groundwater crisis is not the result of natural factors; it has been caused by human actions. During the past two decades, the water level in several parts of the country including Jharkhand has been falling rapidly due to an increase in extraction. The number of wells drilled for irrigation of both food and cash crops have rapidly and indiscriminately increased. India's rapidly rising population and changing lifestyles has also increased the domestic need for water. The water requirement for the industry also shows an overall increase. Intense competition among users — agriculture, industry, and domestic sectors — is driving the groundwater table lower. The quality of groundwater is getting severely affected because of the widespread pollution of surface water. Besides, discharge of untreated waste water through bores and leachate from unscientific disposal of solid wastes also contaminates groundwater, thereby reducing the quality of fresh water resources.
   
   
   The importance of the groundwater arises from the following considerations:
   1. The quantity of groundwater up to drillable depth, is about seventy times more than all the waters in the rivers, lakes, reservoirs, etc. in the world put together.
   2. The quality of groundwater is generally superior to surface water, because the soil column purifies the contaminants in water through processes such as anaerobic decomposition, filtration, ion exchange, etc.
   3. Groundwater is the main source of potable water in most parts of the world (for instance groundwater is the source of 75% of the municipal water supplies in USA).
   4. The world's rural population now exceeds 3 billion people. While the total is expected to stabilize over the next 30 years, the proportion from less developed regions will rise. Demand for groundwater for rural water supply will continue to grow because it is a resource that provides drinking water of acceptable quality with minimal treatment and at modest cost.
   5. Groundwater already plays a key role in the provision of safe drinking water to rural populations e.g. already almost one-third of Asia's drinking water comes from groundwater, much of it supplying farms, villages and small towns. About 80 percent of domestic water use in rural areas in India is groundwater-supplied.
   6.Rural dependency on groundwater is just as widespread in the developed world - in the United States, more than 95% of the rural population depend on aquifers to provide their drinking water.
   7. While global population growth is increasingly concentrated in the world's cities, the demand for food will continue to rise, and much of this increase will need to be satisfied by irrigation-aided rises in agricultural productivity.
   8. Irrigation, much of it drawn from groundwater, has made possible the already-enormous rise in food production during the last 30-40 years. Cultivators have become well aware, in terms of increased productivity, of the benefits groundwater offers: timely irrigation and security of application.
   9.Groundwater is a scarce resource and needs to be managed. Inadequate control of the use of groundwater, indiscriminate application of agrochemicals and unrestrained pollution of the rural environment by other human activities is unsustainable in the face of the twin demand for water of good quality for domestic water supply and adequate volume for irrigation.
   
   The use of groundwater for irrigation ranges from about 40% in the case of India, to about 70% in the case of Libya. As a consequence of excessive use of groundwater for drinking and irrigation purposes, the water table is going down 1-3 m per year in most parts of India.
   In rural India, groundwater (GW) provides approximately 85% of the water used for domestic purposes, and more than 50% of that used for irrigation. These statistics, however underplay the larger role of groundwater within both, natural resources and socio-economic frameworks. Access to groundwater means reduced agricultural risk and an avenue for economic development. At the same time, increasing use of groundwater has resulted in various environmental concerns, the foremost being the depletion of groundwater resources and reduced base flows to streams and rivers.
   The National Water Policy (1987) states that water is a prime natural resource, basic human need, and precious national asset. It gives special attention to drinking water for both humans and animals over its other uses. The policy calls for controls on the exploitation of groundwater through regulation and an integrated and coordinated development of surface- and ground-water. The central government has identified strategies for meeting drinking water needs and micro-watershed management and conducted pilot projects in different regions in the country. Even so, India is facing a freshwater crisis.
   Reference:
   1. Todd, D.K. 1980. Groundwater Hydrology. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
   2. Aswathanarayana, U. 2003. Natural Resources and Environment. Geological Society of India.
   http://www.edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/water/conser.htm
   http://www.developednation.org/issue/water/overview.htm
   http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTWRM/0,,contentMDK:21213332~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:337240,00.html

Evidence of early life: Stromatolites and its presence in Jharkhand State of India.

Evidence of early life: Stromatolites and its presence in Jharkhand State of India.
By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Stromatolites have the distinction of being by far the oldest indicators of organized life on earth, ranging back over 3 billion years. They occur all on continents in rocks from middle Precambrian to Holocene age. Stromatolites are laminated limestone structure of simple to complex form commonly attributed to debris-binding and biochemical processes of benthonic blue-green, green, and possibly, red algae.
The stromatolites can withstand a wide range of physical and chemical conditions, they are found in fresh water, marine, and hyper saline environments. Most stromatolites originate in shallow water, but under conducive geochemical and geological conditions “deep water” stromatolites can grow down to 150m below water level. Observations of both modern and ancient stromatolites demonstrate the very shallow water origin. The close association of mud cracked limestones, flat-pebble conglomerates, and oolites further suggests very shallow waters.
They are best displayed and are by fore most abundant in the older rocks, especially the Precambrian and early Paleozoic. Their scarcity in the later Phanerozoic strata has been attributed to the destruction of the algal mats by grazing forms, particularly snails, and destruction of algal laminations by burrowing organisms. It is presumed that such organisms were not present in the Precambrian and absent only in later times when salinity or other environmental factors restricted or extinguished the usual biota.
Stromatolites are a very useful tool in evaluating the nature of early Earth as well as microbial metabolism and the development of the biogeochemical cycles. They indicate what past environments were like in an area.
Stromatolites were called “living rocks” by scientists before their exact makeup was understood, and they do resemble rocks, growing to well over three feet (one meter) high and being almost as wide. From a distance, a colony of stromatolites can look like a series of boulders scattered across the beach. However, stromatolites are actually laminar structures composed of many layers of material accumulated by the cyanobacteria that make up the stromatolite colony. In fossilized form, stromatolites have distinctive bands of material which are quite striking.
Stromatolites are formed by prokaryotic cyanobacteria, which have cells lacking a distinct nucleus. Prokaryotic bacteria are considered by some scientists to be the oldest and most primitive life form on Earth, with a well established fossil record stretching back for millions of years. The cyanobacteria which dominate stromatolites process many of the building blocks of life, including oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen.
Cyanobacteria use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to create their food. The byproducts of this process are oxygen and calcium carbonate (lime). A layer of mucus often forms over mats of cyanobacterial cells.
Prokaryotic bacteria form an important part of the world's biomass today, especially in the oceans. These bacteria thrive in extreme environments due to their relative lack of complexity. They are also very susceptible to being overwhelmed by more complex organisms, and are therefore often found in areas which other organisms cannot survive, or paired with other, more hardy forms of life. Because they play an important role in reducing carbon dioxide levels and emitting oxygen in exchange, many scientists have urged more research on these bacteria.
Precambrian stromatolite is the oldest of all fossils, and with much labor (cutting and polishing), it is most beautiful. The banding that commonly appears in stromatolite is a record of the growth patterns of colonies of microorganisms, principally photosynthetic cyanobacteria, but also other Eubacteria and the Archaeans. The colors that are often expressed are the result of the interaction of biological and sedimentary processes, together with subsequent chemistry and mineral exchange.
Oxygenation of the Atmosphere - a profound transformation of the bioshere
Regardless of when the cyanobacteria appeared, it is widely accepted that they comprised the predominant form of life on early earth for some two billion years, and were responsible for the creation of earth's atmospheric oxygen, consuming CO2 and releasing O2 by photosynthetic metabolism. Creation of the modern atmosphere is, of course, perhaps the most critical event in geological history that powered the Cambrian explosion and subsequent evolution of the aerobic forms of life, including all animals.
We will likely have no more than a sketchy understanding of the paleoenvironments in which stromatolites were formed in the deep Precambrian time, and only an incomplete understanding of the environments in the Paleozoic. Sound conjecture is possible if we examine the now rare environments that support stromatolitic growth during modern times. Cyanobacteria are found to be a primary organism in the formation of modern microbial carbonates. These prokaryotic bacteria (slang name is blue-green algae owning to pigmentation involved in photosynthesis) are now only found in areas where there is reduced grazing and burrowing by other organisms, and a low occurrence of macro-algae and plants. Environments where modern stromatolites are found typically are hypersaline, but also include areas of high alkalinity, low nutrients, high or low temperatures, and strong wave or current actions. The obvious pattern emerges that modern stromatolites tend to exist in areas that most other life forms consider less desirable or possibly intolerable. Thus, organisms producing modern stromatolites are generally limited to areas where organisms with which they have to compete and/or organisms that might use them for nutrients are not prevalent.
Banded Iron Formations (BIFS)
While not always recognized as such, Banded Iron Formations (BIFs) are another form of stromatolites, and again the cyanobacteria are the heroes that provided the source of oxidants for BIF formation. BIFs are massive, laterally extensive and globally distributed chemical sediment deposits that consist primarily of Fe-bearing minerals (iron oxides) and silica. Iron can occur naturally in two states. Reduced, or ferric iron, is soluble in water. In the Archaean oceans, prodigious ferric iron was released from the Earth's interior. The presence of free oxygen in the oceans would have oxidized the reduced (soluble ferrous) iron in solution to form oxidized (insoluble ferric) iron, which precipitated as iron oxide. Thus, banded iron layers are the result of oxygen released by photosynthetic organisms combining with dissolved iron in Earth's oceans to form insoluble iron oxides. The banding is assumed to result from cyclic peaks in oxygen production. It is unclear whether these were seasonal or followed some other cycle. It is assumed that initially the earth started out with vast amounts of iron dissolved in the world's seas.
Stromatolites in Jharkhand:
Iron ore groups (Archaean age) of Jharkhand and bordering Orissa need pointed reference as they have the potential to constrain concepts of early evolution of life and also the age of the Iron Ore Group. These relate to the occurrence of palaeobiological remains and the extensive development of carbon phyllites that may have an organic carbon source.
These are found in the chert, jasper, haematite and dolomite beds in the iron-ore formations of the Noamundi-Joda area of Orissa bordering Jharkhand State. Good exposures of stromatolytic dolomite are also found at the base of the iron and manganese formations at Kasia and Belkundi. The stromatolites may be of the stratiform, nodular and columnar types.
Stromatolites have also been recorded Bachra coalfield in North Karanpura coalfield of Jharkhand state. It has been found in Talchir Formation (Permo-Carboniferous). The rock types of Talchir formation in order of superposition comprise tilloides and boulder beds, green shales and varvites with stromatolites. Stromatolites have been recorded by CMPDIL organization for the first time in this area.
They were the dominant life form on Earth for over 2 billion years. Today they are nearly extinct, living a precarious existence in only a few localities worldwide.
Reference:
Mahadevan,T.M.(2002) Geology of Bihar and Jharkhand. Geological Society of India,Bangalore, India.
Pettijohn, E.J.(1984). Sedimentary Rocks, 3rd Edition. CBS Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi.
· http://www.fossilmall.com/Stromatolite.htm
· http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Tree_of_Life/Stromatolites.htm

Dr.Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Rch_nitishp@sancharnet.in
Nitish.priyadarshi@gmail.com