Impact of urban waste on the quality of ground water and soil in Sangamner area, Maharashtra State, India

Abstract

Environmental pollution can be traced back in the era when man has started to use the natural resources for his wellbeing. The use of resources by man has been increased day by day with increase in population and the living standards. Among all the activities which lead the environmental pollution, industrialization and urbanization are contributing on higher side. Due to industrialization, tremendous migration of population from rural to urban area has been noticed, which has resulted in increased population density. It is also observed that due to higher living standards the consumption of raw material by the population in such areas also increases, and this increased consumption also results in to production of more waste material in solid as well as liquid form. On the other hand due to increased population density, the availability of land for disposal of this waste decreases, hence resulting into problems of waste disposal. Therefore, such waste generally find its way on to open land and/or in to the water sources. The main problem is with the solid and liquid waste, which need daily clearance from these areas and needs lot of efforts for its disposal. The problem persists in the developing world where the authorities are still ignoring the management of waste. Especially the smaller cities which are at the stage of development are more vulnerable, because if such waste is not disposed properly can result in to contamination of environmental segment especially water and soil and can also create various health problems to the people living near waste disposal sites. Need of the Present Work The study area i.e. Sangamner city selected in present study, is also one of the cities in India which are at the stage of faster development. Sangamner city is experiencing migration of people, which is increasing day by day in addition with the floating population due to its commercial value. Due to increased population, the city is generating huge quantities of solid and liquid waste which is simply disposed off on to the open land and in the river flowing through the city. Keeping in view these practices, the study was carried out to know the Impact of urban waste on the quality of ground water and soil in Sangamner area, Maharashtra state, India.