page_title: Electronic waste in India
section_title: Water
hierarchical_section_title: Electronic waste in India / Environmental impacts / Water
caption_attribution_description: Slum shacks and a rubbish-laden river, with a child in the middle, in the Indian Himalayas.Meanwhile, 1 mile away...
context_page_description: Electronic waste is emerging as a serious public health and environmental issue in India. India is the "fifth largest electronic waste producer in the world"; approximately 2 million tons of e-waste are generated annually and an undisclosed amount of e-waste is imported from other countries around the world.
  Annually, computer devices account for nearly 70% of e-waste, 12% comes from the telecom sector, 8% from medical equipment and 7% from electric equipment. The government, public sector companies, and private sector companies generate nearly 75% of electronic waste, with the contribution of individual household being only 16%.
  E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their "useful life." Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled. There is an upgradation done to this E-waste garbage list which includes gadgets like smartphone, tablets, laptops, video game consoles, cameras and many more. India had 1.012 billion active mobile connections in January 2018. Every year the number is growing exponentially.
context_section_description: India's sacred Yamuna river and Ganges river are considered to be among the most polluted rivers in the world. It is estimated that nearly 80% of India's surface water is polluted. Sewage, pesticide runoff and industrial waste, including e-waste, all contribute to India's water pollution problem.
  E-waste contaminates water in two major ways:
  Landfills: Dumping e-waste into landfills that are not designed to contain e-waste can lead to contamination of surface and groundwater because the toxic chemicals can leach from landfills into the water supply.
  Improper recycling: Improper recycling produces toxic byproducts that may be disposed of using existing drainage such as city sewers and street drains. Once these products have been introduced into the local water supply, they can cause further pollution by entering surface water such as streams, ponds, and rivers.  
  Researchers at Jamia Millia Islamia University collected samples of soil and groundwater from five locations with high e-waste activity and found dangerous levels of contamination near unregulated e-waste sites. According to this study the average concentration of all heavy metals (except zinc) in water near e-waste sites in New Delhi was significantly higher than reference samples.
  In addition to being measurable, the effects of industrial waste pollution in India are easily observable. Approximately 500 liters of industrial waste, which includes e-waste, are dumped into the Ganges and Yamuna river daily which has led to the formation of toxic foam which covers large regions of the rivers.
caption: A child walks in a trash-laden river in the Indian Himalayas.
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