Water-to-Cloud: Correlating socio-economic indicators with river water quality

The Ganga River basin spreaded across multiple states of India is the world’s most populous river basin. But, the pressure of industrialization and urbanisation makes the basin vulnerable to incessant outpouring of sewage and large volumes of solid and industrial wastes. While there are studies to show the effect of drinking water on human health, there is a need to address the issue of socio-economic indicators’ correlations with surface water pollution and study the causality therein. The primary aim of the project is to study the socio-economic and livelihood implications of Ganga river water pollution by correlating the real time pollution parameters with self-reported livelihood measures. The two groups chosen for survey are fisherman and households in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh respectively. The specific objectives of the study are: 1. To understand the effect of water pollution on the livelihood of fishermen. 2. To calculate the direct and indirect health costs of households associated with Ganga river water usage.