ABSTRACT
Environmental pollution is a serious problem nowadays, especially due to growing industrialization and urbanization. The use of water bodies for waste disposal has led to devastating effects both on human and aquatic life. The contamination of drinking water has an equal impact on the health of children as well as adults. Aquatic fauna also gets affected due to deprivation of oxygen supply to these organisms as a result of water pollution. Various microbial diseases like cholera, hepatitis (usually subtype E), amoebiasis, gastroenteritis, shigellosis, and various other viral and parasitic infections spread through contaminated drinking water or food. The contamination of water bodies by different types of heavy metals cannot be under estimated. In Japan, contamination of water bodies by cadmium has led to cadmium nephropathy and Itai-Itai disease. Similarly, Minimata disease is a severe 2form of neuropathy induced by contamination of water bodies due to mercury and its various compounds. Lead poisoning also influences the health of people, and one of the sources being contamination in the water bodies. Strategies should be developed for the prevention of waterborne diseases, and awareness programs are the need of the day to prevent such illnesses in the future. Nature is divine, and therefore, it is important to prevent pollution in any form and nurture both aquatic life and human health and, as a whole, our ecosystem.
