A study carried out by the Energy research Institute has discovered that dumping of sewage and industrial waste in the Yamuna river has led to contaminated vegetables in the area. Particularity effected are those vegetables that have large green leaves.
The report, titled 'Living in a cleaner environment in India: A strategic analysis and assessment', says that levels of nickel, manganese and lead in Yamuna's water were found to be higher than the international aquatic water quality criteria for fresh water. Meena Sehgal, a consultant with TERI who worked extensively on the report, says that their focus was on heavy metals found in the environment and through what means they enter the human body. "Our findings made it clear that it is essentially green leafy vegetables that contain the highest amount of metals. This is because such vegetables have a high tendency to accumulate metals. Levels were significantly lower in other vegetables and practically negligible in drinking water samples," she said.
The high levels of contaminants in food were found exclusively in the urban areas and foodstuffs produced in the more rural areas were shown to have almost negligible traces of containment.
"Vegetables grown in the floodplain of the Yamuna area show higher levels of heavy metal contamination than those cultivated in rural areas, thus, acting as the point of entry for toxic metals into human food chain. Bio-monitoring of women and children in the study area showed significantly higher levels of heavy metals in urine and blood samples taken in urban areas compared to rural areas," said Sehgal.
The study identified Wazirabad and Okhla barrage as the hotspots for soil contamination. This makes sense as there are known to be high levels of industrial wastage being drained in the areas.
The report, titled 'Living in a cleaner environment in India: A strategic analysis and assessment', says that levels of nickel, manganese and lead in Yamuna's water were found to be higher than the international aquatic water quality criteria for fresh water. Meena Sehgal, a consultant with TERI who worked extensively on the report, says that their focus was on heavy metals found in the environment and through what means they enter the human body. "Our findings made it clear that it is essentially green leafy vegetables that contain the highest amount of metals. This is because such vegetables have a high tendency to accumulate metals. Levels were significantly lower in other vegetables and practically negligible in drinking water samples," she said.
The high levels of contaminants in food were found exclusively in the urban areas and foodstuffs produced in the more rural areas were shown to have almost negligible traces of containment.
"Vegetables grown in the floodplain of the Yamuna area show higher levels of heavy metal contamination than those cultivated in rural areas, thus, acting as the point of entry for toxic metals into human food chain. Bio-monitoring of women and children in the study area showed significantly higher levels of heavy metals in urine and blood samples taken in urban areas compared to rural areas," said Sehgal.
The study identified Wazirabad and Okhla barrage as the hotspots for soil contamination. This makes sense as there are known to be high levels of industrial wastage being drained in the areas.
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