IIT-M study finds contaminants in Cauvery 

IIT-M study finds contaminants in Cauvery 

Part of: Prelims and GS III – Pollution 

Context A study done by researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras(IIT-M) has found that contaminants, including pharmaceutically active compounds, personal care products, plastics, flame retardants, heavy metals and pesticides, pollute the Cauvery.

Key takeaways 

• This highlights the need to regularly monitor the river and its tributaries for pharmaceutical contamination.
• The contamination is particularly serious because India is the second largest pharmaceutical manufacturer.
• Harmful effects: Drug compounds, when released into water bodies even in minuscule amounts, can harm human beings and the ecosystem in the long term.
• The study also highlighted the need to assess the long-term impact of such contamination on human health and the ecosystem.

About Cauvery River

• The Cauvery River (Kaveri) is designated as the ‘Dakshin Bharat ki Ganga’ or ‘the Ganga of the South’.
• The Cauvery River rises at Talakaveri on the Brahmagiri range near Cherangala village, Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka.
• It flows through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls.
• Before emptying into the Bay of Bengal south of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu the river breaks into a large number of distributaries forming a wide delta called the “garden of southern India”
• It is bounded by the Western Ghats on the west, by the Eastern Ghats on the east and the south, and by the ridges separating it from the Krishna basin and Pennar basin on the north.