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Pollutants and Water Management
Pollutants and Water Management

Resources, Strategies and Scarcity

Edited by

Pardeep Singh
PGDAV College, University of Delhi
New Delhi
India

Rishikesh Singh
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
India

Vipin Kumar Singh


Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
India

Rahul Bhadouria
University of Delhi
New Delhi
India
This edition first published 2021
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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Cover Image: © Daxiao Productions/Shutterstock

Set in 9.5/12.5pt STIXTwoText by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
v

Contents

List of Contributors vii

Part I Water Pollution and Its Security 1

1 Water Security and Human Health in Relation to Climate Change: An Indian


Perspective 3
Ravishankar Kumar, Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, and Sunil Mittal

2 Assessment of Anthropogenic Pressure and Population Attitude for the Conservation


of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai, India: A Case Study 22
Ajeet Kumar Singh, M. Sathya, Satyam Verma, Agam Kumar, and S. Jayakumar

3 Grossly Polluting Industries and Their Effect on Water Resources in India 47


Zeenat Arif, Naresh Kumar Sethy, Swati, Pradeep Kumar Mishra, and Bhawna Verma

Part II Phytoremediation of Water Pollution 67

4 Phytoremediation: Status and Outlook 69


Kajal Patel, Indu Tripathi, Meenakshi Chaurasia, and K.S. Rao

5 Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals from the Biosphere Perspective and


Solutions 95
Indica Mohan, Kajol Goria, Sunil Dhar, Richa Kothari, B.S. Bhau, and
Deepak Pathania

6 Phytoremediation for Heavy Metal Removal: Technological Advancements 128


Monika Yadav, Gurudatta Singh, and R.N. Jadeja

Part III Microbial Remediation of Water Pollution 151

7 Advances in Biological Techniques for Remediation of Heavy Metals Leached


from a Fly Ash Contaminated Ecosphere 153
Krishna Rawat and Amit Kumar Yadav
vi Contents

8 Microbial Degradation of Organic Contaminants in Water Bodies: Technological


Advancements 172
Deepak Yadav, Sukhendra Singh, and Rupika Sinha

9 The Fate of Organic Pollutants and Their Microbial Degradation


in Water Bodies 210
Gurudatta Singh, Anubhuti Singh, Priyanka Singh, Reetika Shukla,
Shashank Tripathi, and Virendra Kumar Mishra

Part IV Removal of Water Pollutants by Nanotechnology 241

10 Detection and Removal of Heavy Metals from Wastewater Using


Nanomaterials 243
Swati Chaudhary, Mohan Kumar, Saami Ahmed, and Mahima Kaushik

11 Spinel Ferrite Magnetic Nanoparticles: An Alternative for Wastewater


Treatment 273
Sanjeet Kumar Paswan, Pawan Kumar, Ram Kishore Singh,
Sushil Kumar Shukla, and Lawrence Kumar

12 Biocompatible Cellulose-Based Sorbents for Potential Application


in Heavy Metal Ion Removal from Wastewater 306
Shashikant Shivaji Vhatkar, Kavita Kumari, and Ramesh Oraon

Part V Advances in Remediation of Water Pollution 327

13 Advances in Membrane Technology Used in the Wastewater


Treatment Process 329
Naresh K. Sethy, Zeenat Arif, K.S. Sista, P.K. Mishra, Pradeep Kumar,
and Avinash K. Kushwaha

14 Occurrence, Fate, and Remediation of Arsenic 349


Gurudatta Singh, Anubhuti Singh, Reetika Shukla, Jayant Karwadiya,
Ankita Gupta, Anam Naheed, and Virendra Kumar Mishra

15 Physical and Chemical Methods for Heavy Metal Removal 377


Monika Yadav, Gurudatta Singh, and R.N. Jadeja

Part VI Policy Dimensions on Water Security 399

16 The Role of Government and the Public in Water Resource


Management in India 401
Jitesh Narottam Vyas and Supriya Nath

Index 416
vii

List of Contributors

Saami Ahmed Ankita Gupta


Department of Chemistry, Zakir Husain Institute of Environment and Sustainable
Delhi College, University of Delhi, New Development, Banaras Hindu University,
Delhi, India Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Zeenat Arif R.N. Jadejaa


Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Environmental Studies,
Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Faculty of Science, The Maharaja
Pradesh, India Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara,
Gujarat, India
B.S. Bhau
Department of Botany, Central University S. Jayakumar
of Jammu, Samba, Jammu and Environmental Informatics and Spatial
Kashmir, India Modelling Lab (EISML), Department of
Ecology and Environmental Sciences,
Swati Chaudhary School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry
Department of Applied Sciences, M.S.I.T., University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
GGSIP University, New Delhi, India
Jayant Karwadiya
Meenakshi Chaurasia Institute of Environment and Sustainable
Department of Botany, University of Delhi, Development, Banaras Hindu University,
New Delhi, India Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Sunil Dhar Mahima Kaushik


Department of Environmental Sciences, Nano-bioconjugate Chemistry Lab, Cluster
Central University of Jammu, Samba, Innovation Centre, University of Delhi,
Jammu and Kashmir, India New Delhi, India

Kajol Goria Richa Kothari


Department of Environmental Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences,
Central University of Jammu, Samba, Central University of Jammu, Samba,
Jammu and Kashmir, India Jammu and Kashmir, India
viii List of Contributors

Agam Kumar Virendra Kumar Mishra


Environmental Informatics and Spatial Institute of Environment and Sustainable
Modelling Lab (EISML), Department Development, Banaras Hindu University,
of Ecology and Environmental Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sciences, School of Life Sciences,
Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Sunil Mittal
Puducherry, India Department of Environmental Science and
Technology, Central University of Punjab,
Lawrence Kumar Bathinda, Punjab, India
Department of Nanoscience and Indica Mohan
Technology, Central University of Department of Environmental Sciences,
Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Central University of Jammu, Samba,
Jammu and Kashmir, India
Mohan Kumar
Department of Chemistry, Shri Varshney Anam Naheed
College, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India Institute of Environment and Sustainable
Development, Banaras Hindu University,
Pawan Kumar Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Department of Physics, Mahatma Gandhi
Central University, Motihari, Bihar, India Supriya Nath
Central Water and Power Research Station,
Pradeep Kumar Pune, Maharashtra, India
Department of Chemical Engineering and
Ramesh Oraon
Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar
Department of Nanoscience and
Pradesh, India
Technology, Central University of
Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Ravishankar Kumar
Department of Environmental Science and Kajal Patel
Technology, Central University of Punjab, Department of Botany, University of Delhi,
Bathinda, Punjab, India New Delhi, India

Kavita Kumari Sanjeet Kumar Paswan


Department of Nanoscience and Department of Nanoscience and
Technology, Central University of Technology, Central University of
Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Avinash K. Kushwaha Deepak Pathania


Department of Botany, BHU, Varanasi, Department of Environmental Sciences,
Uttar Pradesh, India Central University of Jammu, Samba,
Jammu and Kashmir, India
P.K. Mishra
Department of Chemical Engineering and K.S. Rao
Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Department of Botany, University of Delhi,
Pradesh, India New Delhi, India
List of Contributors ix

Krishna Rawat Anubhuti Singh


School of Environment and Sustainable Institute of Environment and Sustainable
Development, Central University of Development, Banaras Hindu University,
Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Prafulla Kumar Sahoo Gurudatta Singh


Department of Environmental Science and Institute of Environment and
Technology, Central University of Punjab, Sustainable Development, Banaras
Bathinda, Punjab, India Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar
Pradesh, India
M. Sathya
Environmental Informatics and Spatial Priyanka Singh
Modelling Lab (EISML), Department of Institute of Environment and
Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Sustainable Development, Banaras
School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar
University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India Pradesh, India

Naresh K. Sethy Ram Kishore Singh


Department of Chemical Engineering and Department of Nanoscience and
Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Technology, Central University of
Pradesh, India Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Vhatkar Shashikant Shivaji Sukhendra Singh


Department of Nanoscience and School of Biochemical Engineering,
Technology, Central University of IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Varanasi, Uttar
Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Pradesh, India

Reetika Shukla Rupika Sinha


Institute of Environment and Sustainable Department of Biotechnology, MNNIT,
Development, Banaras Hindu University, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
K.S. Sista
Sushil Kumar Shukla Research and Development, Tata Steel,
Department of Transport Science and Jamshedpur, CIndia
Technology, Central University of
Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India Swati
Department of Botany, BHU, Varanasi,
Ajeet Kumar Singh Uttar Pradesh, India
Environmental Informatics and Spatial
Modelling Lab (EISML), Department Indu Tripathi
of Ecology and Environmental Department of Botany, University of Delhi,
Sciences, School of Life Sciences, New Delhi, India
Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Department of Environmental Studies,
Puducherry, India University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
x List of Contributors

Shashank Tripathi Jitesh Narottam Vyas


Institute of Environment and Central Water and Power Research Station,
Sustainable Development, Banaras Pune, Maharashtra, India
Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar
Pradesh, India Amit Kumar Yadav
School of Environment and Sustainable
B. Verma Development, Central University of
Department of Chemical Engineering and Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Technology, IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar
Pradesh, India Deepak Yadav
Chemical Engineering Department,
Satyam Verma Harcourt Butler Technical University,
Environmental Informatics and Spatial Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Modelling Lab (EISML), Department
of Ecology and Environmental Monika Yadav
Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Department of Environmental Studies,
Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao
Puducherry, India University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
1

Part I

Water Pollution and Its Security


3

Water Security and Human Health in Relation to Climate Change


An Indian Perspective
Ravishankar Kumar, Prafulla Kumar Sahoo, and Sunil Mittal
Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India

1.1 ­Introduction

The capacity of a population to maintain sustainable access to sufficient quantities of accept-


able quality water to ensure human well-being, livelihood, socio-economic development,
protection against water-borne and water-related disasters, and to preserve ecosystems is
termed as water security (UN Water 2013). Water demand is increasing with time due to the
booming population, rapid industrialization, rampant urbanization, and extensive agricul-
tural practices. In the world, nearly 785 million people lack a safe drinking water service,
including 144 million people dependent on surface water (WHO 2019). Nearly, 1.8 billion peo-
ple use feces contaminated drinking water sources and have a high risk of contracting cholera,
dysentery, typhoid, and polio (WHO 2019). It has been estimated that the world population will
be around 9 billion by 2050 and water availability will be less than the current availability (UN
WWDR 2015). As per a World Health Organization (WHO) estimation, by 2025, 50% of the
global population will be living in water scarcity areas (WHO 2019). By 2050, the global water
demand is expected to increase by 20–30% as compared with the current scenario, due to grow-
ing demand in the domestic and industrial sectors (UN WWDR 2019). The estimation of the
United Nations World Water Development Report (2016) indicated that more than 40% of the
global population could be living in severe water stress areas by 2050.
Presently, the world’s two most populous countries, India and China, are facing severe
water security problems. However, the conditions are more critical in India both in terms of
quantity and quality due to a lack of required infrastructure, health services, and manage-
ment. India has only 4% of the world’s freshwater but accounts for 16% of the global popula-
tion. India ranked 120th out of 122 nations in water quality index and 133rd among 180
nations in water availability (NITI Aayog 2018). Approximately 21% of diseases are related to
water among all diseases of the country (Snyder 2020). As per UNICEF and WHO (2012)
estimates, approximately 97 million Indians do not have access to safe water. Further, the

Pollutants and Water Management: Resources, Strategies and Scarcity, First Edition. Edited by Pardeep Singh,
Rishikesh Singh, Vipin Kumar Singh, and Rahul Bhadouria.
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2021 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
4 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

findings of the 2011 census revealed that 138 million rural households had access to safe
drinking water, whereas 685–690 million people lacked access to safe drinking water. An ironic
fact is that more than 41% of the rural population (out of 833 million people) of India own
mobile phones but have no access to potable water which is a basic need. Only 18% of the
rural population have access to treated water (Unitus Seed Fund 2014; Forbes India, 2015).
The NITI Aayog report (2018) also said that India is facing its worst water crisis in
history, which is only expected to become worse as the country’s water demand is projected
to be twice the available supply by 2030. The report said that 600 million currently face high
to extreme water shortage, with around two lakh people dying every year due to inadequate
access to potable water. The increasing water shortage will also affect the gross domestic
product (GDP) of the nation, with the country suffering a loss of up to 6% of GDP in 2030
(NITI Aayog 2018).
The quality of both river and groundwater is deteriorating at a rapid pace, making water
scarcity more severe. Even toxic heavy metals like uranium, lead, cadmium, selenium, and
so on are also reported in groundwater samples from various states (Chowdhury et al. 2016;
Kumar et al. 2018, 2020; Sharma et al. 2020). This may lead to severe consequences for
water resources. According to the IDSA report (2010), it has been reported that India is
expected to become “water-stressed” by 2025 and “water-scarce” by 2050.
Further, climate change is also affecting the water security of India as rising temperature
affects the Himalayan glaciers as well as altering the monsoon pattern. The combination of
these two factors affects the level of river water due to the melting of glaciers and intense
rainfall. Further, groundwater resources are also affected directly and indirectly by the
alteration of these factors. High water temperature, changes in timing, intensity, and dura-
tion of precipitation are the significant consequences of climate change which can further
affect the water quality. The alternate pattern of precipitation leads to floods and droughts,
which play an important role in the degradation of water quality by adding a quantum of
concentrated pollutants. As per the World Bank report (2018), climate change can affect 6%
GDP of some regions due to water security, resulting in migration and conflict. As per the
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), by 2030, due to climate
change impacts on water scarcity, 24–700 million people may be displaced from some arid
and semi-arid places.
The achievement of water security in the future will be a very challenging task. This
chapter describes in detail the current situation and future challenges regarding water
security along with prospective health changes. Further, the impact of climate change on
water security and health has been analyzed. The available opportunities are also discussed
to manage future challenges related to water security.

1.2 ­Quantity of Available Water Resources in India


The annual precipitation (rainfall+snowfall) is estimated as 4000 billion cubic meters
(BCM). Out of total annual precipitation, 3000 BCM falls during the monsoon season (Jun
to September) (Central Water Commission 2014). Around 53.3% of total annual precipita-
tion is lost due to evapotranspiration, which leaves a balance of 1986.5 BCM. The total
annual utilizable water resources of India are 1123 BCM, which consists of 690 BCM surface
1 Water Security and Human Health 5

water and 433 BCM of groundwater (Central Water Commission 2014). The National
Commission on Integrated Water Resources Development (NCIWRD) projected that total
water demand to expect 973 (low demand scenario) to 1180 BCM (high demand scenario).
The water used for agriculture is the highest projected demand (70%), followed by house-
holds (23%) and industries (7%) (NCIWRD 1999). The per capita average water availability
in India in the year 2001 was 1816 m3, and it is expected to reduce to 1140 m3 in 2050
(MoWR 2015). The people of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have the highest access to
safe treated water, i.e., 36%, and it is lowest for Bihar (2%) (Forbes India 2015). The annual
surface water availability of India has decreased since the year 1950 (Table 1.1).
Rivers are the primary sources of surface water in India and are considered as the lifeline
of Indian cities. There are 15 large, 45 medium, and 120 minor rivers in India (Raj 2010).
The rivers are either rainfed and/or based on the Himalayan glacier. The annual water
potential in the major river basins of India is 1869.35 BCM, but the utilizable potential is
690 BCM. The Ganga basin has the highest utilizable potential, i.e., 250 BCM. The detailed
account of surface water potential of Indian rivers is depicted in Table 1.2.

Table 1.1 Annual surface water availability of India.

Annual surface water availability


S. no Year (m3/capita/year)

1 1951 5177
2 1991 2209
3 2001 1820
4 2025 1341
5 2050 1140

Source: Govt. of India (2009).

Table 1.2 Overview of surface water potential of Indian rivers.

Catchment Average water resources Utilizable surface


S. no River basin area (sq km) potential (BCM) water resources (BCM)

1 Indus (up to border) 321 289 73.31 46


2 (a) Ganga 861 452 525.02 250
(b) Brahmaputra 194 413 537.24 24
(c) Barak and others 41 723 48.36
3 Godavari 312 812 110.54 76.3
4 Krishna 268 948 78.12 58
5 Cauvery 81 155 21.36 19
6 Subarnarekha 29 196 12.37 6.8
7 Brahmani and Baitarani 51 822 28.48 18.3

(Continued)
6 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

Table 1.2 (Continued)

Catchment Average water resources Utilizable surface


S. no River basin area (sq km) potential (BCM) water resources (BCM)

8 Mahanadi 141 589 66.88 50


9 Pennar 55 213 6.32 6.9
10 Mahi 34 842 11.02 3.1
11 Sabarmati 21 674 3.81 1.9
12 Narmada 98 796 45.64 34.5
13 Tapi 65 145 14.88 14.5
14 West flowing rivers from 55 940 87.41 11.9
Tapi to Tadri
15 West flowing rivers from 56 177 113.53 24.3
Tadri to Kanyakumari
16 East flowing rivers between 86 643 22.52 13.1
Mahanadi and Pennar
17 East flowing rivers between 100 139 16.46 16.5
Pennar and Kanyakumari
18 West flowing rivers of 321 851 15.1 15
Kutch and Saurashtra
including Luni
19 Area of inland drainage of 36 202 0 NA
Rajasthan
20 Minor river basins draining 31 NA
into Myanmar and
Bangladesh
Total 1869.35 690

Source: Central Water Commission, http://cwc.gov.in/water-info.

India is the largest and fastest consumer of groundwater, which fulfills the demands
of nearly 80 and 50% of the rural and urban population, respectively (Shankar
et al. 2011). The groundwater resources of the country are estimated to be 433 BCM,
which is 39% of the total water resources of India (CGWB 2017). The net groundwater
availability is 396 BCM, while the available for potential use is 245 BCM. The stage of
groundwater development is 61% (CGWB 2017). The Indian state Uttar Pradesh has the
highest net annual groundwater availability (~72 BCM) and Delhi has the least (0.29
BCM) (CGWB 2014). Around 85% of the rural population uses groundwater for drink-
ing purposes. The volume of groundwater is inadequate to fulfill the demand of the
large population, agricultural practices, rampant industrialization, and urbanization.
The overall account of groundwater resources assessment 2004–2017 is presented in
Table 1.3.
The per capita average water availability in India is continuously decreasing. India has a
huge potential in river and precipitation water (rainfall+snowfall), but currently, not even
1 Water Security and Human Health 7

Table 1.3 Groundwater resources assessment from 2004–2017.

Annual replenishable Net annual Annual groundwater draft Stage of


groundwater groundwater for irrigation, domestic, groundwater
Year resources (BCM) availability (BCM) and industrial uses (BCM) development

2004 433 399 231 58%


2009 431 396 243 61%
2011 433 398 245 62%
2013 447 411 253 62%
2017 432 393 249 63%

Source: CGWB (2017).

50% of the potential is being used. Due to the lack of use of the water potential of river and
precipitation, groundwater resources are under tremendous pressure and the water table is
continuously increasing in most parts of the country over time.

1.3 ­Quality of Available Water Resources in India

Water quality of both available surface and groundwater resources does not satisfy the crite-
ria for potable water in most parts of the country. The Ministry of Jal Shakti report revealed
that 70% of water resources in India are polluted by untreated sewage and industrial efflu-
ents. The monitoring report of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB 2011), based on
biological oxygen demand (BOD) and coliform bacteria count, indicated that organic pollu-
tion is predominant in aquatic bodies. The groundwater of around 600 districts (i.e. almost
one-third of India) is nonpotable. On the other hand, the Central Groundwater Water Board
(CGWB) has reported the presence of contaminants like fluoride, nitrate, arsenic, iron, and
other heavy metals in the groundwater of many regions (Table 1.4). As and F− contamina-
tion of groundwater is a significant public health risk concern for Indian people. As and F−
contamination of groundwater is a health threat for approximately 100 and 66 million
Indian people, respectively (Bindal and Singh 2019; Kadam et al. 2020). Other major ground-
water contaminants like U, NO3−, Fe, HCO3−, etc. have also been reported in several parts of
India. High nitrate content in water is another grave concern in many states (Ministry of
Water Resources 2014; Kaur et al. 2019). Apart from governmental organizations, various
studies/reports on groundwater and surface water quality have confirmed the presence of
other contaminants like uranium, cadmium, lead, copper, sulfate, pesticides, and organic
pollutant in the water resources of India (Bacquart et al. 2012; Mittal et al. 2014; Chowdhury
et al. 2016; Kumar et al. 2016; Bajwa et al. 2017).
Both the groundwater and surface water quality are not qualifying criteria for potable water
in most parts of the country. Surface water is continuously facing quality issues due to the
discharge of sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes. Groundwater in India is affected
by heavy metals (As, Fe, Pb, U) and anions (F−, NO3−, SO42−) in different parts of the country.
8 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

Table 1.4 Number of states and districts affected by geogenic contamination in groundwater.

Contaminants No of affected states No of affected districts

Arsenic (As) 10 68
Fluoride (F−) 20 276
Nitrate (NO3−) 21 387
Iron (Fe) 24 297

Source: CGWB (2019).

1.4 ­The Impact of Climate Change on the Quantity


of Water Resources

Climate change affects water resources through warming of the atmosphere, alterations in
the hydrologic cycle, glacier melting, rising sea levels, and changes in precipitation patterns
(amount, timing, and intensity). In the Indian scenario, due to the alteration of monsoon
patterns, rainfall becomes more intense and cumbersome, and it is concentrated on fewer
rainy days. Climate change influences the quantity of water resources of India through the
impact on glaciers, groundwater, and flood events. The probable climate change impacts
on water resources of India are depicted through the flow diagram in Figure 1.1.

1.4.1 Rainfall
Using decade-wise average rainfall annual data of 116 years of data (1901–2019), no signifi-
cant trend was observed for annual rainfall on a national basis (Figure 1.2). However, a
decreasing trend in annual rainfall was observed across India since the year 2000. This data
set is based on more than 2000 rain gauge data spread over the country.
Climate change has affected the rainfall pattern of India in the form of fewer rainy days,
but more extreme rainfall events. This is resulting in an increased amount of rainfall in
each event, leading to significant flooding. Most of the global models suggest that Indian
summer monsoons will intensify. The timing of seasonal variation may also shift, causing
a drying during the late summer growing season. There has been a significant change in
precipitation and temperature pattern in India from 2000 to 2015. This could indicate a
signature of climate change in India (Goyal and Surampalli 2018).

1.4.2 Glaciers
Around 9040 glaciers have been reported in India, covering nearly 18 528 km2 in the Indus,
Ganges, and Brahmaputra basins (Sangewar et al. 2009; Sharma et al. 2013). Any changes
in a glacier can affect river run-off and the water availability in the Himalayan rivers (Indus,
Ganges, and Brahmaputra) and agricultural practices in India. The annual rate of glacial
shrinkage is reported to be nearly 0.2–0.7% in the Indian Himalayan region for 11 river
basins during the period 1960–2004 with a mean extent of 0.32–1.40 km2 (Kulkarni
1 Water Security and Human Health 9

Probable climate change impact on water resources in Indian Scenario

Alter Hydrological
Glaciers melt rapidly Alter Monsoon Cycle

Himalayan rivers Intense rain fall for fewer days


affected and no water
throughout year

Combination Groundwater recharge affected

Flood like situation

Figure 1.1 Impact of climate change on water resources.

1300

1250

1200
Rainfall (mm)

1150

1100

1050

1000
10

0
0

6
92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

00

01

01
19

–1

–1

–1

–1

–1

–1

–1

–1

–2

–2

–2

01

11

21

31

41

51

61

71

81

91

01

11
19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

20

20

Time Period

Figure 1.2 Decade-wise average rainfall annual data of India. (Source: Envi Stats India 2018;
https://data.gov.in/keywords/annual-rainfall.)

et al. 2011; Bolch et al. 2012). Ramanathan (2011) reported the mass balance of Chhota
Shigri glacier (15.7 km2), located in the Chandra River basin of Himachal Pradesh, showed
a net loss of about 1000 m from 2002–2009. The flow diagram demonstrating the impact of
climate change on glaciers is depicted in Figure 1.3.
In India, climate change is expected to affect Himalayan rivers (Ganges and Brahmaputra)
due to the faster rate of melting of Himalayan glaciers. Himalayan glaciers are known as
the “Water Tower of Asia,” a major source of water in all major Asian rivers (Shiva 2009).
10 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

Climate Change

Influence

Snowfall Temperature

Equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) change

Influence to Glacier Mass Balance

Glacier Response

Thicken Glacier Thins Glacier


(Positive Mass Balance) (Negative Mass Balance)

Length change/Recede/modifications of Glacier

Figure 1.3 The flow diagram of the impact of climate change on glaciers. (Source: Pandey and
Venkataraman 2012.)

As per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these glaciers are receding
faster than any other part of the world (IPCC 2007). The Gangotri glacier (source of the
river Ganga), receded 20–23 miles/year, whereas other glaciers can retreat more than
30 miles/year as a result of rising temperatures (Shiva 2009). If the conditions continue,
glaciers will melt quicker and no glaciers will be left to supply water for the entire year,
then rivers like Brahmaputra and Ganges will become seasonal rivers. In the monsoon
season, the combination of the heavy melting of glaciers and intense heavy rainfall for
fewer days may create a flash flood-like situation. On the other hand, reduced rainfall in
the rest of the year may lead to drought in some regions. Chevaturi et al. (2016) illustrated
the climate change impact on the northern region of Ladakh. The Ladakh area is unique
due to its location in high altitude, dry desert with cold temperatures, and water flows to
the mountains. Research showed a warming trend with reduced seasonal precipitation,
making it highly sensitive to temperature changes.

1.4.3 Sea Level


Rising sea levels and flooding are the biggest threats of climate change. As temperature
rises, ice melts and water level rises. This threatens to engulf coastal areas and cause mass
displacement and loss of life. Initial predictions expected a sea-level rise of over 59 cm by
2100, but current rates will likely exceed this by a wide margin. According to Pandve (2010),
1 Water Security and Human Health 11

a sea-level rise of 1 m would inundate up to 5763 km of India, as many cities lie only a few
feet above sea level, making severe coastal floods.

1.4.4 Groundwater
Groundwater resources are affected due to an inadequate amount of water percolating
down to aquifers due to reduced rainfall. The increased atmospheric temperature also
increases the rate of evapotranspiration, which leads to a reduction in the actual amount of
groundwater available for human use. India extracts 1000 km3 of groundwater annually,
which is 25% of groundwater at a global level (Mukherji 2019).
Climate change affects Indian water resources through warming of the atmosphere,
alterations in the hydrologic cycle, melting of glaciers, rising sea levels, and changes in
precipitation patterns (amount, timing, and intensity). The alteration of monsoon patterns
decreases rainy days but increases the amount of rainfall. Himalayan glaciers are receding
faster than any other part of the world. Further, the combined impacts of changes in pre-
cipitation patterns, glaciers melting, and sea-level rise has caused flood-like situations in
different parts of the country. One noticeable thing, if the conditions continue, glaciers will
melt quicker and no glaciers will be left to supply water for the entire year, then rivers like
Brahmaputra and Ganges will become seasonal rivers.

1.5 ­Impact of Climate Change on the Quality


of Water Resources

The impact of climate change on water quality has not gained much concern as an emerg-
ing topic in water research to date. However, possible effects are discussed with the associa-
tion of health as depicted in Figure 1.4. Floods and droughts also affect the surface water
qualitatively (in terms of pollutant concentration) and quantitatively. Whenever drought
condition persists, the groundwater resources are depleted and the concentration of the
pollutants are elevated in the residual water (IPCC 2007). Changes in precipitation or
hydrological pattern and increased run-off can result in the rise of pathogens and contami-
nants in water bodies. Increased frequency and intensity of rainfall may cause more water
pollution due to run-off water. The decrease in dissolved oxygen in water due to the increase
in the temperature of the water is the direct consequence of climate change on water qual-
ity. Further, the concentration of dissolved carbon, phosphates, nitrates, and micropollut-
ants are also directly altered as a consequence of climate change and they produce an
adverse impact on health (Delpla et al. 2009).
Climate change is not only expected to influence the quantity of groundwater but also to
influence the quality of groundwater (Dragoni and Sukhija 2008). Water recharges during
an arid period contain a high concentration of salts and increases total dissolved solids
(TDS). However, in a wet period, the reverse phenomena can occur. Climate change
increases sea surface temperatures and results in rising sea levels. Further, rising sea levels
may lead to saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers, which influences groundwater quality
and contaminates drinking water sources whenever salty water percolates into the fresh-
water system. It is very difficult to reverse the process. Climate change influences the
12 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

Climate change impact on water quality and its association with health risk

Alter Hydrological
Temperature increase

Drought
Increase runoff
Alter properties of Dissolve
Oxygen, Nitrate, Dissolve Increase
Carbon, Phosphate Pollutants pollutants and
concentrated pathogens

Adverse Health effects of


human and aquatic life
Increasing frequency of water borne
(cholera, diarrhea) and vector borne
(Malaria and dengue)

Figure 1.4 Impact of climate change on water quality and its association with health.

amount or pattern of precipitation, resulting in a flood-like situation and affects groundwa-


ter quality through the release of agrochemicals/industrial wastes from soil to groundwater.
Climate change affects water quality through the decrease of dissolved oxygen due to the
rise of temperature, while alternations to the hydrological cycle increase pathogens and
contaminants in surface water. Groundwater quality has been indirectly affected by climate
change due to increases in TDS, salts, and other contaminants. Further, rising sea levels
may lead to saltwater percolation in coastal aquifers, which influences groundwater quality.

1.6 ­The Health Perspective in Association with Water


Security and Climate Change

As per the WHO (2018), in the period between 2030 and 2050, climate change could be the
reason for approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year by malnutrition, malaria, diar-
rhea, and heat stress. The additional health costs by 2030 are estimated to project USD
2–4 billion/year. Climate change affects health through polluted air, unsafe drinking water,
insufficient food, and shelter safety. Extreme high air temperatures directly affect cardio-
vascular and respiratory systems, particularly to older adults. In Europe, more than 70 000
deaths were recorded under the influence of a summer heatwave during 2003 (Robine
et al. 2008). High temperature also increases ozone levels and other pollutants in the air,
leading to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The levels of pollen and other aerial
allergens are high in extreme temperature/heat. This can trigger asthma, which affects
nearly 300 million people in the world (WHO 2018). Apart from this, climate change has a
1 Water Security and Human Health 13

high impact on water-related diseases. The nonuniform rainfall patterns are likely to affect
freshwater and make it unsafe for humans. This water can compromise hygiene and
increase the risk of diarrheal disease, which kills over 500 000 children aged under five
years, every year (IPCC 2014).
India is one of the major countries that suffers from water-related diseases. The security
of drinking water ensures the prevention and control of water-borne diseases. As per the
WHO assessment, around 37.7 million people in India are affected by water-borne diseases
every year, and among them, 75% are children (Khurana and Sen 2009). The World Bank
has also estimated that 21% of communicable diseases in India are related to unsafe water.
The impact of climate change increases the risks of water-borne diseases like cholera,
malaria, and dengue by warming of the climate and intense rainfall. A UN report stated
that more than one lakh people die annually from water-borne diseases and 73 working
days are lost due to water-borne diseases. Another report stated that 1.5 million children
die annually from diarrhea (Khurana and Sen 2009). Apart from water-borne diseases,
­cancer, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, and other diseases are reported due to
probable contaminants found in water (Kaur et al. 2019). A resulting economic burden of
$600 million has been estimated per year due to water-borne diseases. Further, climate
change makes the situation more critical. Rising temperatures often bring negative impacts
to human health and life. The incidences of water-borne diseases like cholera, diarrhea,
and so on,. become more prevalent in warmer climates (Figure 1.4). Vector-borne diseases
like malaria can thrive when the temperature increases as a result of global warming. It is
also estimated that up to 2050, the malaria vector will shift away from central regions
towards southwestern and northern states due to the variation of rainfall (Kiszewski
et al. 2004). Malaria kills over 400 000 people every year on the global level.
Vector-borne diseases like dengue also increase in warm and rainy climate due to the
increasing mosquito population. The Aedes mosquito vector of dengue is also highly sensi-
tive to climate conditions, and studies suggest that climate change is likely to increase expo-
sure to dengue. Apart from the risks caused by increased temperature, intense rainfall could
result in floods and waterlogging in several places. Waterlogged areas will then become the
potential grounds for mosquitoes breeding. In India, especially in the Ganges basin, poor
habitats have no choice for drinking and cooking other than using the polluted water of riv-
ers. This results in numerous diseases. Among these diseases, stomach infections like diar-
rhea and dysentery are common. People living in rural areas and urban slums will be more
vulnerable to diseases and infections because they do not have access to piped water and
cannot afford to buy clean water. Water shortages have an enormously devastating impact
on human health, including malnutrition, pathogen or chemical loading, and infectious
diseases from water contamination. In the future, this cycle of diseases will place an enor-
mous burden on the government, who will have to scramble to provide health care for all
those affected and have to take preventive measures to control the situation from worsening.
Climate change affects health through polluted air, unsafe drinking water, insufficient
food, and shelter safety. The nonuniform rainfall patterns are likely to affect freshwater in
India and make it unsafe for humans. This water can compromise hygiene and increase the
risk of diarrheal disease, in these cases, children are the main sufferers. Further, the impact
of climate change also increases the risks of water and vector-borne diseases like cholera,
malaria, and dengue by warming of the climate and intense rainfall.
14 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

1.7 ­Major Challenges to Water Security

1.7.1 Water Demand for the Future


There are several reports published by national and international agencies on the current
and future demand of water (Tables 1.1 and 1.5) for India. Based on these reports, it can be
analyzed that meeting the water supply-demand of India will be a serious challenge. The
most serious concern is the growing population, which is likely to increase to 1.4 billion by
2050. To meet food security, the agricultural sector also needs a huge amount of water.

1.7.2 Overexploitation of Groundwater


The water table in India is depleting at a rate of 0.4–0.6 m per year. Out of the total assess-
ment units (blocks/taluks/mandals/districts/firkas/valleys), nearly 17.5, 4.5, 14, and 64%
units have been categorized as overexploited, critical, semi-critical, and safe, respectively
(CGWB 2017). So, preventing the overexploitation of groundwater will be another
challenge.

1.7.3 Management of Water Resources


●● Water availability: The water resources of India have a large gap between potential and
availability. The potential of water resources has been estimated at 1869 BCM and annual
precipitation is 4000 BCM. Out of a total potential 1869 BCM, India uses 1123 BCM of
water. The topographical and large temporal variability and regional mismatch between
water availability and demands are the major reasons for the difference between poten-
tial and availability (Jain 2019).
●● Flood management: The large variability of rainfall in space and time in India causes
flooding in different parts of the country. Indian rivers carry more than 70% of their
annual flow in four months during the monsoon period. There is an essential need to

Table 1.5 International reports on current and future demands of water of India.

World Bank Report 1999

Year Expected demand Year Per capita water availability

1997 552 BCM 1947 5000 m3 per year


2025 1050 BCM 1997 2000 m3 per year
2025 1500 m3 per year

The Mckinsey Report 2009


3
2009 740 billion m
2030 1.5 trillion m3

Source: IDSA (2010).


1 Water Security and Human Health 15

conserve flood water and flows for the growing demands of water in the country. Flood
management can also play a key role in groundwater recharge and drought management.
Nearly 500 BCM of water has been estimated through flood flows in Indian rivers
(Jain 2019). In the current scenario, the management of storage flood water is not suffi-
cient. The management of storage flood water can be used to meet growing demands
throughout the year. It will also help in water-related disasters like floods and droughts.
●● Water transfer between water enriched and water-stressed regions: India has
large temporal and geographical variability about water availability. The transfer of water
between water surplus regions to deficit regions could be a very effective approach in
meeting the demand of the entire country.
●● Recycle and reuse: In the current scenario, less of the urban water supply is recycled
and reused, and a large quantity of water is wasted. Around 40% of the water in some
cities in India is wasted due to leakage or theft. For instance, the Arab states treat 55% of
wastewater, and 15% is reused, which is used in farm irrigation, environmental protec-
tion, and industrial cooling (Jain 2019).
●● Impact of climate change: Warming of the lower atmosphere affects rainfall, snowfall,
and glaciers, and raises sea levels, which all interfere with the quantity of water resources.
Rising sea levels increase flooding in coastal areas and the intrusion of seawater alters
water quality in rivers, lakes, and groundwater.
●● Maintain water quality of resources and provide safe drinking water for rural areas.
●● Hydro-diplomacy with neighboring countries to solve water conflicts.

1.7.4 Health Prospective


The prevention and control of water- and vector-borne diseases can be a difficult task due
to the association with poor water quality and warming of the climate. Apart from that, the
presence of arsenic, uranium, lead, cadmium, etc. leads to an increase in health problems
due to their probable correlation with cancer and cardiovascular, neurological, and skin
diseases.
Projected water demand is continuously increasing day by day due to the rising demand
for water by agriculture, industry, and households, as well as the growing population.
Groundwater resources are under tremendous pressure and the water table in India is
depleting at the rate of 0.4–0.6 m per year. India is not using the full potential of river water,
precipitation, and floodwater.

1.8 ­Government Initiatives to Ensure Water Security

Recently, the Indian government formed the Ministry of Jal Shakti in May 2019 by merging
two ministries: the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga
Rejuvenation and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. The Government of
India had also established the National Water Mission, which is one of the eight National
Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change 2008. Now, National Water
Mission is operating under the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the main objective is “conserva-
tion of water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across
16 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

and within States through integrated water resources development and management.”
The National Water Mission is working towards five goals as follows:
a) Building a comprehensive water database in the public domain and an assessment of
the impact of climate change on water resources
b) Promotion of citizen and state actions for water conservation, augmentation, and
preservation
c) Focused attention to vulnerable areas including overexploited areas
d) Increasing water use efficiency by 20%
e) Promotion of basin level integrated water resource management
In the 12th five-year plan (2012–2017) of India, more emphasis has been given on aquifer
mapping, watershed development, and the involvement of nongovernmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) in developing irrigation capacity. Previously, the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government established a separate ministry on “River Development and
Ganga Rejuvenation” to accelerate the development of rivers and approved a 20 000 crores
budget to the Namami Ganges scheme for the historical river Ganga. Further, the NDA
government made it mandatory that 50% of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005 should be for the improvement of
water conservation work like the construction of check dams and de-silting of water bod-
ies. Recently, in the union budget 2016–2017, 60 000 crore rupees for a groundwater
recharge project, 259.6 crore rupees for river basin management, and 660.27 crore rupees
for water resources management were allocated and particular emphasis was given to the
National Rural Drinking Water Program. Several water-related projects such as rainwater
harvesting, artificial groundwater recharge, watershed management, etc. are already being
run by central and state governments. Further, a substantial amount has been allocated for
groundwater recharge projects in drought-hit areas to combat the challenges of climate
change. The national adaptation fund was established to analyze climate change threats.
The government also paid specific attention to arsenic-affected areas and constructed spe-
cially designed new wells for the mitigation of arsenic pollution in groundwater.
The Indian government formed the Ministry of Jal Shakti in May 2019 as the main regu-
lating body of water resources in the country. For improved water quality and quantity of
water resources, the Indian government launched several schemes, namely, Namami
Ganges, the National Rural Drinking Water Program, the national adaptation fund (for
climate change threats), the National Water Mission, etc.

1.9 ­Managing Water Resources Under Climate Change

India has the potential to transform the increasing number of challenges in water security
into opportunities. Based on the available potential of the water sector, it can be concluded
that India is not a water-deficit country. In India, 90% of water resources are suitable for
growing crops. Some of the reasons against water security in the Indian context are water
resource mismanagement, inadequate use of water potential, lack of required government
attention, and lack of the willingness to adopt the latest technologies. Hence, fulfilling
these lacunae can combat current and future water security problems. India has the
1 Water Security and Human Health 17

opportunity to establish, as a nation, water security for a vast population. Some of the
efforts required are as follows:

●● Government priories: The success of any project or mission is largely dependent on


government policies and attention. Hence, water security should be the primary agenda
of the government.
●● Strict actions as well as rules and regulations: Stringent regulation is needed and
strict action should be taken against those causing water pollution and wastage.
●● Potential to use surface water: The surface water used is 690 BCM (55.6%) out of a
potential of 1869 BCM (Central Water Commission 2014). The use of the rest of the water
is restricted due to a high level of pollution. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM)
and Indus river systems have an average annual potential of water of 1110.62 BCM and
207.7 BCM, respectively (Central Water Commission: Indus Water Commission). These
two river systems have two-thirds of the water potential of India. The need of the hour is
to use the potential of surface water.
●● Investments in worthwhile water projects: The current need is to accelerate and
extend successful water projects to the entire country and make success stories like rain-
water harvesting, watershed management, groundwater mapping, and other govern-
ment initiatives. To accelerate government projects, monitoring should be carried out by
officials from civil societies, NGOs, and others. Specialized grievance cells should be
established.
●● Management of water: It is estimated that 40–50% of the supplied water is lost due to
leakage of pipes and connections. Hence, technology is required to instantly detect leak-
age. Recently, Danish technology was used in some municipalities, which is capable of
detecting even minor leakages that are invisible to the eye. This type of technology is
needed to be spread to the entire country.
●● Use of the potential of seawater: India has 7516.6 km of coastal area and a huge
potential for fulfilling the growing water demand. The use of desalination of seawater
would be another excellent approach for fulfilling the demand for future needs.
●● Management of rainfall: Only 18% of rainwater is used effectively, whereas 48% enters
into rivers and the rest percolates in the ocean (Hegde 2012). Thus, enormous potential
exists to use rainwater to fulfill future demand.
●● Use of wastewater in agriculture and other sectors: These practices are ongoing
but more is needed from sewage treatment, desalination, and other innovative tech-
nologies due to the huge amount of water released from domestic and industrial
activities.
●● Flood management: In every monsoon, certain parts of India are affected by floods and
a huge amount of water flows is wasted. Therefore, there is a need to turn this into an
opportunity by managing this huge amount of water.
●● Hydro-diplomacy: Many river water conflicts are ongoing between India and its adja-
cent countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, China, and Bangladesh. There is a need for
extreme hydro-diplomacy to solve conflicts with these countries.
●● Deficit irrigation: In this strategy, less water is supplied to crops. No significant reduc-
tion of growth yield is estimated by the systematic use of this method. A study carried out
on a North China plain on winter wheat saved 25% water with no significant loss of yield
18 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

(UN WWDR 2015). In India, a study carried out using this strategy in the vegetative
phase for groundnut gave positive results. More research is required regarding deficit
irrigation on Indian crops for water conservation strategies.
●● Good groundwater governance: A Netherlands funded APFAMGS (Andhra Pradesh
Farmer Managed Groundwater Systems) project is an excellent example of the govern-
ance of groundwater resources. This project has been applied in 638 groundwater over-
exploited villages of Andhra Pradesh. The officials of this project adapted appropriate
cropping systems based on available groundwater resources. The governance acted as
pressure to adapt suitable water saving and harvesting projects. Low investment organic
agriculture was promoted, and the rules were formulated to ensure the sustainability of
groundwater resources.
India is becoming a water-deficient country and climate change is making the situation
more critical. The use of the maximum potential of river water, seawater, precipitation,
wastewater, and good water governance can minimize the impact of climate change on
water resources.

1.10 ­Conclusion and Recommendations

Water security has been a grave issue in India due to a lack of proper management, the slow
rate of establishing water projects, inadequate water monitoring, and a lack of appropriate
preventive measures. The degradation of water quality results in increased water-borne
and vector-borne diseases. Apart from this, contaminants such as arsenic, fluoride,
­uranium, nitrate, cadmium, and lead found in water are also responsible for various serious
diseases like cancer, cardiovascular, mental disorders, and others. The effects of climate
change, including the increase of temperature, changes in regional precipitation patterns,
floods, droughts events, etc., make the situation more critical in respect of water quantity,
water quality, and water-related diseases. India has the potential to resolve future ­challenges
by the use of surface water to accelerate the establishment of water projects, adopting new
technologies, hydro-diplomacy with adjacent countries, and making stringent rules and
regulations.
Some recommendations are given as follows:
●● Use of the maximum potential of surface water, seawater, and rainfall
●● Turning flooding incidents to opportunities by managing huge amounts of water
●● Promotion of water-efficient irrigation systems like drip irrigation, sprinkler systems, etc.
●● Hydro-diplomacy and solving conflicts with neighboring countries
●● Applying strict regulations and taking action against those causing water pollution
and wastage

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22

Assessment of Anthropogenic Pressure and Population


Attitude for the Conservation of Kanwar Wetland,
Begusarai, India
A Case Study
Ajeet Kumar Singh, M. Sathya, Satyam Verma, Agam Kumar, and S. Jayakumar
Environmental Informatics and Spatial Modelling Lab (EISML), Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences,
School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, Puducherry, India

2.1 ­Introduction

Wetlands are a ubiquitous ecosystem, found in all regions and climatic conditions across the
globe. But they have long been a misunderstood ecosystem due to the misconception that
they are “wastelands, disease-infested, dark and dirty swamps,” and therefore, considered
worthless and large numbers of them have been converted for the other land-use activities
(Shah 2012). Later, the advancement of wetland research made the importance of these
ecosystems clear, as they interlink land and aquatic ecosystems, and therefore, understand-
ing developed from the conversion to the conservation of wetlands (Shah 2012). They are
considered as the “transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,” where
the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water
(Mitsch and Gosselink 1986). These are the most productive and biologically diverse eco-
systems, but they are also very fragile in nature (Mitsch and Gosselink 2000). They were
defined for the first time during the world convention on wetlands at Ramsar city, Iran, on
2 February 1971 as:

Wetlands are area[s] of marsh, fen, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial,
permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt,
including areas of marine water, the depth of which at low tide does not exceed
six meters.

The wetlands contribute approximately 40–45% of the total global estimate of natural
productivity and ecosystem services, as reported in the various wetland ecosystem assess-
ment reports.

Pollutants and Water Management: Resources, Strategies and Scarcity, First Edition. Edited by Pardeep Singh,
Rishikesh Singh, Vipin Kumar Singh, and Rahul Bhadouria.
© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2021 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
2 Conservation of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai 23

2.1.1 Distribution of Wetlands


2.1.1.1 Global Distribution
Wetlands cover a small proportion (only 2–6% area) of the Earth’s land surface. They are
distributed in every continent and country except Antarctica (Tiner 2009). The total esti-
mated area of wetlands over the globe was recorded in a range of 747–885 million hectares
(Finlayson et al. 2001). Approximately, half of the global wetland area occurs between
50°N and 70°N latitude, one-third between 20°N and 30°S latitude, and the remaining in
the temperate zones (Tiner 2009). A total of 2386 wetlands are identified as Ramsar sites in
171 countries, which cover 253 771 669 ha area.

2.1.1.2 Distribution of Wetlands in India


The total estimated area of wetland over the Asian continent was recorded in a range of
211–224 million hectares (Watkins and Parish 1999). In India, it is estimated as 15 260 572 ha
(NWIA 2011; Panigrahy et al. 2012), which is about 4.63% of the total geographical area of
the country (NWIA 2011). Most of the natural wetlands in India are found at high altitudes
in the Himalayas, followed by wetlands of major rivers in their flood plains and coastal
wetlands (Prasad et al. 2002). These are distributed from the cold arid trans-Himalayan
zone to wet Terai regions of the Himalayan foothills, including the floodplains of the rivers
Ganga and Brahmaputra. In the Deccan peninsula, the river floodplains of Cauvery,
Krishna, Godavari, and Tapti contribute to different wetlands. The vast Indian coastline of
7500 km, contributes different types of wetlands in the state of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujrat, Lakshadweep, and Andaman and Nicobar
states (Figure 2.1). In addition, a large number of artificial wetlands also contribute to the
total estimated wetland area (Panigrahy et al. 2012).
A total of 115 wetlands were identified in different states of India, as “wetlands of
national importance” for conservation under the National Wetland Conservation Program
in 2009. Wetlands in India have been classified under different categories as shown in
Table 2.1 (NWIA 2011).
Currently, there are 37 wetlands of international importance in India that are designated
as Ramsar sites, covering 1 067 939 ha.

2.1.1.3 Distribution of Wetlands in Bihar


In Bihar, the total estimated area of wetlands is 403 209 ha (NWIA 2011), which is approxi-
mately 2.64% of the total wetland area of India. Wetlands in Bihar are locally called Chaur,
Maun, Taal, Jheel, and Pats. The natural inland wetlands dominate in Bihar, which com-
prises about 92% of the total estimated area of the wetlands of Bihar, while the artificial
area accounts for 3.5% and the small wetlands area of 1–2.5 ha accounts for 4.5%
(NWIA 2011).
As Bihar is a land-locked state from all sides in the Gangetic flood plain, limited catego-
ries of wetlands exist here (Figure 2.2). The district-wise wetland area in Bihar is shown in
Figure 2.3 (NWIA 2011).
The major rivers which contribute to different wetlands in Bihar are Ganga, Kosi,
Gandak, Bagmati, Mahananda, and Kamla-Balan (Ghosh et al. 2004). The three important
wetlands of Bihar, i.e. Kanwar, Barilla, and Kusheshwar Asthan were included in the list of
NWCP (2009).
24 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

Lakes/Ponds
Ox-bow lakes/ Cut-off meanders Lagoons
High altitude wetlands Creeks
Riverine wetlands Sand/Beach
Waterlogged Intertidal mud flats
River/Stream Salt marsh
Mangroves
Reservoirs/Barrages Coral reefs
Tanks/Ponds
Waterlogged Salt pans
Salt pans Aquaculture ponds

0 75 150 300 450 600


Kilometers

Figure 2.1 A map showing different types of wetlands in India. (Source: National Wetland
Atlas 2011, Space Application Centre, Indian Space Research Organization.)

Table 2.1 Category wise distribution of wetlands in India.

S. no Wetland category Total wetland area (ha) Wetland area (%)

1 Lake/pond 729 532 4.78


2 Oxbow lake 104 124 0.68
3 High altitude wetland 124 253 0.81
4 Riverine wetland 91 682 0.6
5 Waterlogged (natural) 315 091 2.06
6 River/stream 5 258 385 34.46
7 Reservoir/barrage 2 481 987 16.26

(Continued)
2 Conservation of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai 25

Table 2.1 (Continued)

S. no Wetland category Total wetland area (ha) Wetland area (%)

8 Tank/pond 1 310 443 8.59


9 Waterlogged (artificial) 135 704 0.89
10 Salt pan (inland) 13 698 0.09
11 Lagoon 246 044 1.61
12 Creek 206 698 1.35
13 Sand/beach 63 033 0.41
14 Intertidal mudflat 2 413 642 15.82
15 Salt Marsh 161 144 1.06
16 Mangrove 471 407 3.09
17 Coral reef 142 003 0.93
18 Salt pan (coastal) 148 913 0.98
19 Aquaculture pond 287 232 1.88
20 Wetlands (<2.25 ha) 555 557 3.64
Total 15 260 572 100

Source: National Wetland Atlas (2011), Space Application Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad.

5%
2% 1% 4%
1%
4%

Lake/Pond
9%
Ox-bow lake
Riverine wetland
Water logged (Natural)
River/Stream
Reservoir/Barrage
Tank/Pond
74%
Wetlands (<2.25 ha)

Figure 2.2 Percentage of wetlands area under different categories in Bihar.

2.1.2 Significance of Wetlands


Wetlands are a highly productive ecosystem, providing many important benefits, which
can be described as “Goods and Services.”
Wetland Area (ha)

Figure 2.3
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
Pashchim Champaran
Purbai Champaran
Sheohar
Sitamarhi
Madhubani
Supaul
Araria
Kishanganj
Purnia
Katihar
Madhepura
Saharsa
Darbhanga
Muzaffarpur
Gopalganj
Siwan
Saran
Vaishali
Samastipur
Begusarai
Khagaria

Districts of Bihar
Bhagalpur
Banka
Munger
Lakhisarai
Sheikhpura
Nalanda
Patna
Bhojpur
Buxar
Kaimur
Rohtas
Jehanabad
Aurangabad
Gaya
Nawada
Jamui

District-wise wetland area in Bihar. (Source: National Wetland Atlas 2011, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India.)
2 Conservation of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai 27

2.1.2.1 Ecological Significance


The ecological importance of various wetlands toward biodiversity contribution is well
documented by different agencies. These areas provide suitable habitats for fish, micro-
and macro-flora and fauna, and act as a wintering ground for a variety of migratory and
residential birds (Gilver and Mclnnes 1994; Gopal and Chauhan 2006; Alongi 2009). In
addition, wetlands trap a large amount of carbon, silts, and various pollutants, and main-
tain the quality of water (Manson et al. 2005).

2.1.2.2 Hydrologic and Climatic Significance


Wetlands play an effective role in flood control by reducing sediment load, recharging aqui-
fers, and carbon sequestration (Carter 1986; Ford and Bedford 1987; Bullock 1992;
Hilman 1998). These areas also have a significant role in deciding local weather and topo-
graphic, edaphic, and hydrological variations (Kusler and Riexinger 1986; Bullock and
Acreman 2003).

2.1.2.3 Socio-Economic Significance


Apart from providing various ecosystem services, the wetland ecosystem is vital for socio-
economic development, as the majority of the human population is dependent on these
ecosystems for their livelihood. Wetlands are the sources of highly valued commercial prod-
ucts and fisheries, and they are the wintering grounds for a large number of avifauna and
some other wildlife species. In addition, different wetlands have significant historical and
cultural importance, which attracts visitors and provides revenue through eco-tourism.

2.1.3 Background of the Current Study


Wetlands have been the center-stage of research since 1971, after the first international
convention on wetlands, popularly called the Ramsar Convention. Different studies have
revealed that wetlands have a significant contribution to biodiversity, microbial biogeo-
chemistry, nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emission, and safeguarding natural and
anthropogenic hazards (Dobermann et al. 1996; Craft and Casey 2000; Mathew et al. 2002;
Chandra et al. 2009; Tiner 2009; Prusty et al. 2010; Nasir and Harikumar 2011; Niraula 2012;
Mohan et al. 2013; Giri and Singh 2014; Singh and Jayakumar 2015).
Several studies have been conducted on the Kanwar wetland since it was notified as a
protected area in 1986 and the status of water quality, aquatic flora and fauna, and the
socio-economy of the dependent population were documented (Singh and
Roy 1989, 1990a, b, 1991a, b; Rakshi and Sanghi 1996). Later, the land use land cover
(LULC) dynamics, resource inventory and socio-economy, contamination status of water,
soil/sediments, and vegetation were estimated in different research studies (Ghosh
et al. 2004; Ambastha et al. 2007a, b; Roy et al. 2008; Shardendu et al. 2012; Anand and
Joshi 2013; Kumar 2013a; Singh and Jayakumar 2015, 2016, 2017; Singh et al. 2018). All
these studies were conducted to meet their specific objectives and indicated the degrading
status of the wetland. The total avifauna population visiting the site was reported to have
decreased by 56.63%, including 69.49% of migratory birds and 53.27% of residential birds in
2011, as compared with 2002. Approximately, 3961 ha (62.8%) of the notified land area of
the wildlife sanctuary is under dispute between the administration and the local popula-
tion. Only 2350 ha (37.2%) of the sanctuary area is undisputed as per the forest range officer
28 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

of Begusarai district. The wetland area supports the livelihoods of a large population, and
the increasing human population around this wetland and their encroachments have posed
serious challenges for both ecological diversity and quality of resources. These studies
have also indicated the degradation of wetland status and suggested an inclusive research
approach for the conservation and management of this wetland. In the past one and half
decades, the wetland has been under severe threat of degradation due to heavy siltation,
water shortage, invasive weeds, and anthropogenic encroachments including illegal land
acquisition, agriculture, bird trapping, cattle grazing, tree harvesting, waste dumping, and
the establishment of small-scale industries like a brick kiln in and around the sanctuary.
As it is one of the more remotely located wetlands of national importance, not only does
it support huge natural biodiversity, it also influences local hydrology, weather, and the
socio-economy of the inhabiting population. However, this wetland still only has a limited
number of scientific studies, which is an indication that it has not been given much atten-
tion by the scientific community for its proper monitoring and conservation. Therefore,
this work was conducted to identify the key factors that adversely affect the wetland, as
well as human health and the societal status of this area. This study is also aimed to find
solutions for the identified factors.

2.2 ­Materials and Method

2.2.1 Study Area


The study was carried out in Kanwar wetland (Figure 2.4), one of the largest inland
freshwater lakes in the Indo-Gangetic biogeographic zone. It was formed naturally by the
meandering of the Burhi Gandak River in the geologic past (Rodger and Panwar 1988a, b).

(a) (c)

SK 1

SK 2
SK 3

SK 5
SK 4
(b) SK 6

SK 7

SK 8

SK 9

SK 11 SK 10

SK 13
SK 12
SK 14

Figure 2.4 A map of (a) India, (b) Bihar, and (c) study area with sampling locations.
2 Conservation of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai 29

It was declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1989 by the Ministry of Environment and


Forest, Government of India. Geographically, it is located between (25°35′00″ – 25°40′00″
N and 86°05′00″ – 86°10′00″ E) and covering an area of 6311 ha. It is classified as wet-
land type 19, because of the type of wetland habitat present, i.e. paddies (Scott 1989). It
is a flat terrain with an average elevation of 44 m above mean sea level. This area is
found in the tropical wet zone of India (Sarthi and Singh 2013), and temperature varies
in a range of 7–38 °C. It mainly experiences four distinct seasons of winter (December–
February), summer (March–May), monsoon (June–August), and post-monsoon
(September–November). The average annual rainfall is 1100 mm mainly received from
the southwest monsoon between July to September. It often gets recharged either from
rainwater or excess water from the river Burhi Gandak during the monsoon period. It
was identified as a lake of national importance and included in the National Wetland
Conservation Programme by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of
India in 2009.
The wetland supports a large variety of micro- and macro-flora and fauna in and around
its boundary. The vegetation around the wetland area is characterized by tropical dry mixed
forest, tropical seasonal swamp forests, and wooded grasslands (Champion and Seth 1968).
The major tree species Peepal (Ficus religiosa), Indian Banyan (Ficus benghalensis), Cluster
fig (Ficus racemosa), White fig (Ficus infectoria), Babool (Acacia nilotica), Sissoo (Dalbergia
sissoo), Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna), and so on support the shoreline and raised mounds or
rahies. Common reed (Phragmites karka), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), lotus
(Nelumbo nucifera), Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata), and Sesbania species are the most
prominent aquatic species of this wetland (Rakshi and Sanghi 1996).
The wetland is an important waterfowl habitat of different residential (107 species) and
migratory (59 species) birds (Ramakrishna et al. 2002). The white-rumped vulture (Gyps
bengalensis), the Indian vulture (Gyps indicus), the greater spotted eagle (Aquila clanga),
and the Sarus crane (Grus antigone) are the most threatened bird species in this lake
(Collar 2005). Different wild animals like blue bulls (Boselaphus tragocamelus), bats
(Chiroptera), squirrels (Sciuridae), and jackals are often visible in the late monsoon seasons
(Rakshi and Sanghi 1996).
More than 16 hamlets are situated around the wetland. These hamlets were less popu-
lated and mainly dominated by the local community during the late 1980s. They were com-
pletely dependent on the lake for fishing, bird capture, fuelwood, livestock grazing, and
wetland paddy cultivation for their livelihoods (Rodger and Panwar 1988a; Rakshi and
Sanghi 1996). Nowadays, the population has drastically increased because of the move-
ment of other communities. During the late monsoon season, when the water recedes, the
people cultivate different crops on the open areas of the wetland. The four crop seasons
are Kharif (August–November), Rabi (November–February), Aghani, and Garma (March–
May). Major crops such as paddy, sugarcane, wheat, maize, pulses, and different vegeta-
bles are commonly cultivated. In addition, a practice of double cropping pattern is
also common.

2.2.2 Data Collection


First, secondary data including toposheets from the Survey of India (SOI), Patna branch,
population data of 2001 and 2011 from the census report, the Government of India website,
30 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

and rainfall and temperature data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts were collected for this area.
The LULC change dynamics were estimated by using Landsat imageries and geographic
information system (GIS) software. The samples of water and soil/sediments were col-
lected from 14 different locations (Figure 2.4). The samples of aquatic species of flora and
fauna, and the cultivated vegetation species, especially crops, were also collected and esti-
mated for the general parameters and the content of specific contaminants, i.e. heavy met-
als, by following APHA procedures (APHA 2005). Further, the water quality index (WQI)
and the health risk index (HRI) was calculated by adopting standard procedures. For WQI,
the modified weighted arithmetic mean procedures were used (Shah and Joshi 2017; Singh
et al. 2020). The HRI was calculated by using the formula given by Khan et al. (2010).

Daily intake of metal DIM


Health risk index HRI
Oral referrence dose

Where,

C metal * Dfood intake


Daily intake of metal DIM
Average body weight

Further, with the help of toposheets, ten villages were identified in close vicinity of the
wetland, which were also documented in the Gazette of Bihar, while this wetland was
declared as a wildlife sanctuary. These villages are Manjhaul, Jaimangalpur, Jaimangalgarh,
Ekamba, Parora, Narayanpiper, Sakra, Rajaur, Kanausi, and Manikpur. A rapid survey was
conducted among these villages from June 2013 to August 2013 to understand the overall
wetland resource use pattern and its dynamics, to identify different resource user groups
(RUGs) and their dependency and socio-economic status, and the attitude for the conserva-
tion of this wetland. The objective-oriented questionnaire was prepared after the rapid sur-
vey, with a total of 47 key questions, which were open-ended (with options), closed-ended
(yes/no), and suggestive types. Later, an intensive survey was conducted through a specific
questionnaire among the identified RUGs in these villages from July 2015 to July 2017. A
total of 147 households were interviewed to gather information on various aspects. In addi-
tion, the local representatives of government agencies, leaders, social workers, and regular
visitors were also interviewed.

2.3 ­Results

2.3.1 Climatic Variation


The monthly average rainfall and temperature over the study area are shown in Figures 2.5
and 2.6, respectively. The average monthly rainfall was 107.25 mm in 2012, 128.44 mm in
2013, 92.61 mm in 2014, 102.16 mm in 2015, and 101.24 mm in 2016, while the average
monthly temperatures for the years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 were 20.1, 20, 20.1, 20.6, and
20.94 °C, respectively.
2 Conservation of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai 31

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

450
400
350
300
Rainfall (mm)

250
200
150
100
50
0
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Winter Summer Moonsoon Post-mosoon

Figure 2.5 Monthly rainfall (mm) variations.

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016


30

25

20
Temperature

15

10

0
Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov

Winter Summer Moonsoon Post-mosoon

Figure 2.6 Monthly temperature variations.

2.3.2 Hydrological Variation


The hydrological regime of the wetland is highly variable throughout the year. Therefore, a
contour line map of water availability in different months, i.e. October, December, March,
32 Part I Water Pollution and Its Security

Water Availability
Wetland Boundary
June
March
December
October

N
0 0.5 1 2 Kilometers

Figure 2.7 Contours lines based on water availability in different months in the Kanwar wetland
by using Landsat 8 data from 2014 to 2017 for October, December, March, and June.

and June during the study period was prepared and depicted in Figure 2.7. The average
water spread was recorded to the maximum extent in October. Later, it started decreasing
in December, followed by June, and the minimum water spread was in March. This is an
indication of un-uniform water availability and a pattern of siltation across the wetland. It
also clarifies that in the lower stretch of this wetland, the pattern of siltation is more fre-
quent, followed by the upper and middle stretches. The most frequent pattern of silt depo-
sition in the lower stretch could be due to its existence toward the outlet channel of the
wetland, which is not appropriately managed, and the runoffs from the whole catchment
are drained to this part.

2.3.3 Land Use Land Cover Change


The natural land cover in the wetland area was identified into four classes, i.e. waterlogged,
open/scrub, agriculture, and settlements. In this study, the change in the LULC pattern
under the classes was analyzed for the years 1988 and 2016, which is depicted in Figure 2.8.
In 1988, the maximum area (59.58%) of this wetland was covered with water, followed by
scrub/open (39.79%), agriculture (0.39%), and settlement (0.25%), but in 2016, waterlogged
and scrub/open area were reduced to 35.84 and 29%, respectively. The average rate of the
LULC pattern is shown in Table 2.2.
2 Conservation of Kanwar Wetland, Begusarai 33

1500 1399.95
1988 2016
1200
934.94
Area (ha)

900

600

300

0 9.14
5.81
Water
Scrub/Open
Agriculture
Settelment
LULC class

Figure 2.8 Area under four land use land cover change class in 1988 and 2016.

Table 2.2 Land use land cover change analysis in the Kanwar wetland between 1988 and 2016.

LU/LC class Feb. 1988 Feb. 2016 Change % Change Yearly change (ha/year)

Water (ha) 1399.95 842.29 −557.66 −39.83 −19.92


Scrub/Open (ha) 934.94 681.67 −253.27 −27.09 −9.05
Agriculture (ha) 9.14 653.02 643.88 7044.64 22.99
Settlement (ha) 5.81 172.89 167.08 2875.73 5.97
Total area (ha) 2349.84 2349.87 – – –

2.3.4 Water Quality


The water samples were analyzed for 17 parameters and compared with standard permis-
sible limits. Some of the parameters with the previously reported values for the same wet-
land in this study are shown in Table 2.3.
Further, an overall WQI was calculated by adopting standard procedures proposed in
various studies (Tiwari and Mishra 1985; Dwivedi et al. 1997; Trivedi 2010; Shah and
Joshi 2017) and is shown in Figure 2.9. The overall WQI was recorded in the medium

Table 2.3 Water quality parameters of the Kanwar wetland.

Permissible
Parameters Current study limits Year 2002a

Year 2014 2015 2016 Average ± SD IS:2296b

pH 7.89 8.41 8.25 8.18 ± 0.26 6.5–8.5 7.83


EC (μS/cm) 126.32 290.93 323.93 247.06 ± 105.86 1000–2250 204.24

(Continued)
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as was the case years ago, an unhealthy excitement in the minds of
220
the people.”
But, facts being more convincing than official denials, the exodus
grew more alarming, because the forces to which it owed its origin
continued in operation. The “Jewish Colonization Association” now
came to the aid of the indigent exiles, and endeavoured to save
them from additional suffering by preventing those who were not
provided with the necessary passage money, or were not physically
221
fit, from leaving their homes. These wise measures restrained to
a certain extent indiscriminate expatriation, but, as might have been
foreseen, failed to check it entirely. The exodus continued, and the
outcry against Roumania spread, for now the countries into which
the undesirable current flowed were compelled by self-interest to do
what they had hitherto vainly attempted to effect from a sense of
philanthropy.
America, the favourite haven of refuge for the fortune-seeker of
every colour and clime, undertook the task of spokesman. The late
Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, in September, 1902, through the
representatives of the United States in the countries which took part
in the Congress of Berlin, reminded the Governments of those
countries of Art. 44 of the Treaty signed by them in 1878, urging
them to bring home to Roumania her flagrant and persistent failure
to fulfil the conditions on which she had obtained her independence.
After a handsome tribute to the intellectual and moral qualities of the
Jew, based on history and experience, the American Minister
protested, on behalf of his country, against “the treatment to which
the Jews of Roumania are subjected, not alone because it has
unimpeachable ground to remonstrate against resultant injury to
itself, but in the name of humanity.” He concluded with a vigorous
appeal to “the principles of International Law and eternal justice,”
and with an offer to lend the moral support of the United States to
222
any effort made to enforce respect for the Treaty of Berlin.
This powerful impeachment, coming as it did from a distant party
in no way connected with the affairs of Continental Europe, may
have caused heart-searchings in nearer and more immediately
concerned countries; but it failed to awaken those countries to a
proper sense of their interests, not to say duties. The only quarter in
which America’s appeal to humanity found an echo was England. A
number of representative men, such as the late Archbishop of
Canterbury, the present Bishop of London, Lord Kelvin, the
Marquess of Ripon, the late Mr. Lecky, Sir Charles Dilke, the Master
of Balliol, and others, publicly expressed their profound sympathy
with the victims of persecution. Mr. Chamberlain also seized the
opportunity of declaring that, as history proves, the Jews, “while
preserving with extraordinary tenacity their national characteristics
and the tenets of their religion, have been amongst the most loyal
subjects of the states in which they have found a home, and the
impolicy of persecution in such a case is almost greater than its
223
cruelty.” Other Englishmen also joined in the denunciation of
Roumania not so much from pity for the victims of oppression as
from fear lest, unless the Roumanian Government was compelled to
change its policy, England should have to face another inroad of
“undesirable” Jewish immigrants.
In like manner, the only Government which volunteered to
second Mr. Hay’s Note was the British, and on the common basis of
these two representations, the signatory Powers of the Treaty of
Berlin “exchanged views.” The results of this exchange can be
summed up only too easily. The historian of the future will probably
derive therefrom some interesting lessons regarding European
politics and ethics in the beginning of the twentieth century. They are
as follows:
Germany, under whose presidency the stipulation concerning the
Jews of Roumania was framed, did not choose to consider herself
called upon to insist on the execution of that stipulation. The Liberal
section of the German press received the American Note with
sincere, but ineffectual, appreciation; while of the Conservative
majority some pronounced it naïve, and others affected to regard it
as an attempt on America’s part to interfere in European affairs, or
even as an electioneering trick having for its sole object to enhance
President Roosevelt’s political prestige! The German Government,
though more courteous than the German press, proved equally cold.
As we have already seen, that Government was the last to join in the
efforts to improve the lot of the Roumanian Jews and the first to
declare itself satisfied with the deceptive revision of Article 7 of the
Roumanian Constitution. This attitude, when considered in
conjunction with the fact that a Hohenzollern reigns in Roumania,
and with that kingdom’s place in the present political combinations of
the Continent, enables us to understand, if not to applaud,
Germany’s reception of Mr. Hay’s Note.
Austria-Hungary, whose proximity to Roumania pointed her out
as the Power primarily concerned, and entitled to act, declined to
take any steps singly or collectively. The self-restraint of Austria, like
that of Germany, and even in a greater degree, was dictated by
political considerations, Roumania being practically the only State in
the Balkans, where the influence of Austria-Hungary and of the Triple
Alliance still counts for something. Besides, the Vienna Cabinet
could not decently join in advocating Jewish emancipation, for it was
Austria which in May, 1887, concluded with Roumania a treaty
whereby some seventy thousand Jewish residents in the latter
kingdom—who, according to a practice common in Mohammedan
countries, had enjoyed Austrian protection while Roumania was
under Ottoman rule—were deprived of the status of Austrian
subjects, without receiving any other status in exchange.
Italy was deterred from lending her support to the American Note
by Roumania’s relations with the Triple Alliance and also by the
vogue which the “Roman” idea obtains in the land which the
Roumanians are pleased to regard as “the cradle of their race.”
Russia, whose treatment of her own Jewish subjects would have
made an appeal to “humanity and eternal justice” on behalf of the
Jews in another country a sad mockery, decorously refrained from
supporting the American Note. It is true that the Russian press
imitated the Teutonic in scoffing at America’s action as a pretext for
gaining admission to the counsels of the European Areopagus, and
in condemning it as an impertinence! But the Czar’s Government,
with better taste, extricated itself from an awkward position by basing
its refusal on the ground that the grievances set forth in Mr. Hay’s
despatch were so old that it was hardly worth while troubling about
them. In the opinion of the Russian Ministers, the Jews must by now
be thoroughly accustomed to starvation.
France, with all the good intentions in the world, could do nothing
without Russia’s consent and, therefore, contented herself with the
expression of a modest hope that the Roumanian Government might
of their own accord decide to fulfil their obligations, seeing that the
real sufferer is Roumania itself, and with pointing to the lack of
224
means of enforcing such fulfilment.
In brief, the European Powers considered that they did their duty
by expressing their platonic concurrence with that part of the
American Note which referred to the obligations of humanity and
civilisation generally. But to the more definite appeal to the Treaty of
Berlin they refused to pay any attention whatsoever. Nor can we
wonder at their refusal. The appeal was not a very happy one; for
every party to that contract has conscientiously broken it in turn.
Russia, in defiance of its provisions, has fortified Batoum; Turkey has
not even attempted to carry out the reforms in the European
Provinces of the Empire, ordained by the Treaty; Great Britain has
done nothing for the Armenians. Why then should poor Roumania
alone be called upon to carry out her share of an agreement, already
disregarded with impunity by everyone else concerned?
Such a retort would, of course, have been too candid and too
rational for diplomacy. Instead, the Roumanian Government had
again recourse to the more correct, if somewhat hackneyed,
expedient of an official contradiction of the truth. The Roumanian
Minister in London declared that “the idea that any persecution
existed was absolutely erroneous.” The Jews were foreigners, and
“the disabilities imposed upon foreigners were absolutely necessary
for the protection of his countrymen, who had bought their
independence with the sword, and had a right to manage their
225
economic affairs according to their requirements, etc., etc.” What
the Roumanian conception of such a right is has been very
eloquently explained by Roumania’s accomplished Queen. After
having drawn a pitiful and, although exaggerated, in the main faithful
picture of Roumania’s economic misery, Her Majesty declares that,
under such conditions, the civilised world ought not “to require her to
harbour and support others, when she herself stands in dire need of
assistance.” Those “others” are “foreigners,” that is, Roumanian
Jews; their exodus is represented as the voluntary emigration of “a
foreign population” due to the instinct which prompts a rat to quit a
sinking ship, and their departure is welcome, because they, being
traders, drain the country of its wealth. This interesting economic
doctrine is expounded by Her Majesty as follows: “It is a fact that no
money has ever been introduced into Roumania through any one in
trade. Any that such a man may possess goes abroad, first to
purchase his stock and outfit, and later for supplies to carry on his
business, even such articles as buttons and the commonest kinds of
braids not being manufactured here except on the very smallest
226
scale.” Here again the Jewish apologist is more convincing than
his Roumanian accuser. Admitting that, on the whole, the Queen’s
statements are correct, he asks: “But why is it so? For the reason
that the ruling class prohibits ‘foreigners’ to acquire lands in the
country, and by means of this and other laws keeps foreign capital
227
from coming in.”
Protests pass away, grievances remain. The well-meant action of
Mr. Hay and Lord Lansdowne, far from bettering, really aggravated
the condition of the people on whose behalf it was taken. The
Roumanian politicians, with characteristic astuteness, perceived that
the immediate cause of the complaint was the emigration of the
Jews to the United States, England and Canada, and, naturally
enough, arrived at the conclusion that the one thing needful was to
remove the ground of complaint by stopping emigration. A
telegraphic order was sent to all the local authorities, forbidding the
issue of passports to the Jews. Those who had already reached the
frontier were forcibly turned back, and hundreds of others, who had
sold all they possessed in order to raise the funds necessary for the
228
journey, were compelled to return home and perish. Thus an act
intended as a blessing proved an unmitigated curse, and modern
Roumania by this new measure has outstripped even mediaeval
Spain in cruelty. For the Spanish sovereigns, blinded by religious
bigotry, had yet given to the Jews the alternatives of conversion or
exile. Their Roumanian imitators, infatuated by racial fanaticism, will
not baptize the Jews, nor dare they banish them; but, like Pharaoh of
old, they virtually bid them stay and be slaves.
CHAPTER XXIII

ANTI-SEMITISM

We have followed the fortunes of the Jewish people from the


moment of its first contact with the nations of the West to the last
quarter of the nineteenth century. We have seen that this contact
was from the beginning marked by mutual antipathy, enfeebled at
times, invigorated at others, always present. Some Jewish writers
have endeavoured to show that the hatred of the Gentile towards the
Jew in the Middle Ages was an artificial creation due entirely to the
efforts of the Catholic Church; that it flowed from above, and that the
masses of Christendom, when not incited by the classes, were most
amicably disposed towards Israel. This view is hardly tenable. It is
inconceivable that the Church, or any other authority, could have
succeeded so well in kindling the conflagrations which we have
witnessed, if the fuel were not ready to be kindled. It is also a view
contrary to the recorded facts. We have seen in the earlier Middle
Ages popular prejudice spontaneously manifesting itself in the insults
and injuries which were heaped upon the Jews, and restrained with
difficulty by the princes and prelates of Europe. In the time of the
Crusades also it was not St. Bernard who fanned the fury of the mob
against the Jews of the Rhine, but an obscure monk. The
exhortations of the saint were disregarded; but the harangues of the
fanatic found an eager audience, simply because they were in
accord with popular feeling. During the same period bishops and
burgomasters strove to save the victims, in vain.
Again, the persecution of the Spanish Jews in the fifteenth
century would never have attained the dimensions which it did attain,
were it not for the deep-rooted animosity which the bulk of the
Spanish people nourished against them. Castile was then the home
of chivalry and charity. The pretensions of the Pope to interfere in the
affairs of the kingdom had met with scornful opposition on the part of
the Castilian nobles. Three centuries before an Aragonese monarch
had given away his life in defence of the persecuted heretics of
Provence. Less than two centuries before Aragon was one of the few
countries that refused to comply with the joint request of Philip the
Fair of France and Pope Clement V. to persecute the Knights
Templars. At the time when the Inquisition was established in Spain
both Castile and Aragon were hailing the revival of culture. Under
Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as in the subsequent reigns, the
Castilians and the Aragonese vigorously resisted an institution so
contrary to the principles of freedom dear to them. Nor was in Spain
the danger of dissension sufficiently great to justify recourse to so
terrible an instrument of concord. The Spaniards less than any other
people had reason to sacrifice liberty of conscience for the sake of
political conquest. It is, therefore, highly improbable that the Holy
Office would ever have gained a firm footing in Spain, but for the fact
that its way was paved by the popular prejudice against the Jews
and the Moors, and its success assured by the persecution of those
races. Though the Spaniards hated the Inquisition bitterly, they hated
the Semites more bitterly still; and of the two the Jew more bitterly
than the Moor.
We have also seen that neither the Renaissance nor the
Reformation, both movements directly or indirectly hostile to the
Church, brought any amelioration to the lot of the Jew. In every
country Jew-hatred existed as the product of other than
ecclesiastical influences. Here and there, under exceptionally
favourable conditions, the Jews may have been tolerated; they were
not loved. This negative attitude was liable to be at any moment
converted into active hostility. All that the Church did was to turn the
feeling to account, to intensify and to sanctify it. Lastly, we have seen
that the emancipation of the Jews did not come about until the end of
the eighteenth and the middle of the nineteenth century—a period no
longer of protest against the Church, but one of rebellion against all
the prejudices of all the ages. It was not until the gospel of humanity,
in its broadest sense, was accepted that the secular clamour against
the Jewish portion of the human race was silenced; and even then
not without difficulty. But, though the plant of anti-Judaism was cut at
the root, the root remained, and it was destined in our own day to put
forth a new shoot.
Writers have expended much ingenuity in defining the origin and
the nature of modern anti-Semitism. Some regard it as a
resuscitation of mediaeval religious bigotry; others as the latest
manifestation of the old struggle between Europe and Asia; a third
school, rejecting both those theories, interprets it as a purely political
question arising from the social and economic conditions created by
the emancipation of the Jews; while a fourth sect have attempted to
show that the modern revival is “the fruit of a great ethnographical
and political error.” Those who see in anti-Semitism nothing but a
revival of mediaeval religious rancour ignore the conflict between
Jew and Gentile before the rise of the Mediaeval Church, or even
before the rise of Christianity. Those who explain it as a purely racial
struggle forget the Crusades and the Inquisition and the superstitious
horror of usury. Those who interpret it simply as a question of
modern European politics disregard both those periods of history.
Finally, whatever may be said of crude ethnographical theories and
of nebulous nationalist creeds, it would be doing them too much
honour to suppose that they are the real causes of anti-Semitism.
Men do not slaughter their fellow-men for the mere sake of an
abstract hypothesis, though priests may. All these things do nothing
but give a name and a watchword to a movement born of far less
ethereal parents. In our day the political activity which has used anti-
Semitism as an instrument has only done what clerical activity had
done in the past. It has availed itself of a force not of its own
creation. The fact is that every human action is the result of manifold
motives. The complexity of the motives is not diminished by the
multitude of the actors. There is a strong temptation to simplify
matters by singling out one of those motives and ignoring the rest.
But, though truth is always simple, simplicity need not always be
true. There may be new things under the sun. Anti-Semitism,
however, is not one of them. Its roots lie deep in the past.
Viewed, then, in the light of two thousand years’ recorded
experience, modern anti-Semitism appears to be neither religious,
nor racial, nor economical in its origin and character. It is all three,
and something more. We find in it all the motives which led to the
persecution of the Jews in the past. In antiquity the struggle was
chiefly due to racial antagonism, in the Middle Ages chiefly to
religious antagonism, in the nineteenth century we might expect it to
assume chiefly a nationalist garb. But, as in antiquity religious
antipathy was blended with racial hatred, as in the Middle Ages
economic rivalry accentuated religious bigotry, so in our time
religious, racial, and economic reasons have contributed to the
movement in various degrees according to the peculiar conditions,
material and moral, prevailing in each country where anti-Semitism
has found an echo. If it were possible to unite all these causes in one
general principle, it would be this: every age has its own fashionable
cult, which for the time being overshadows all other cults, gives a
name to the age, explains its achievements, and extenuates its
crimes. Every age has found in the Jew an uncompromising
dissenter and a sacrificial victim. The cult par excellence of the
nineteenth century is Nationalism.
What is this dreadful Nationalism? It is a reversion to a primitive
type of patriotism—the narrow feeling which makes men regard all
those who live in the same place, or who speak the same language,
or who are supposed to be descended from a common ancestor, as
brethren; all others as foreigners and potential foes. This feeling in
its crudest form is purely a family-feeling, in the worst sense of the
term. It grows into a larger allegiance to the tribe, then to the race,
and that in its turn develops into the broad patriotism which
manifests itself now as Imperialism, now as Catholicism.
There is yet a third form of patriotism—the purest and noblest of
all: loyalty to common intellectual ideals. The Greeks attained to this
lofty conception, and an Athenian orator, in enumerating his
country’s claims to the admiration of mankind, dwells with just pride
on this product of its civilisation. Athens, he says, “has made the
name of the Hellenes to be no longer a name of race, but one of
mind, so that Hellenes should be called those who share in our
229
culture rather than in our nature.” Isocrates in making this
statement, however, gave utterance to a dream of his own rather
than to a feeling common among his countrymen. The Macedonian
Empire strove to convert that philosophical dream into a political fact.
Alexander and his successors studded Asia with Greek theatres,
Greek schools, Greek gymnasia, and the East was covered with a
veneer of pseudo-Hellenic civilisation. But their success was only
partial, superficial and ephemeral. The intellectual unity could not go
deep and therefore did not last long. The barriers—social, religious
and racial—which separated the Hellene from the Barbarian proved
insuperable; and the Isocratean ideal of a nationality based on
community of intellectual aims remained an ideal. Hellenism
demanded a degree of mental development to which mankind has
never yet attained. Hence its failure as a political bond. This was not
the case with Imperialism and Catholicism. They both appealed to
more elementary and therefore less rare qualities in man. Hence
their success. Rome achieved more than Greece because she
aimed at less.
The Roman Empire represented the first, the Roman Church the
second variety of this broad patriotism. Civis Romanus was a title
which united in a common allegiance the Italian and the Greek, the
Jew and the Egyptian, the Spaniard, the Briton and the Gaul.
Catholic Rome inherited the imperial feeling of Pagan Rome, but
dressed it in a religious form. The dictatorship of the Caesars was
divided between the Christian Emperor and the Pope: the former
inheriting their political power, the latter the spiritual and moral.
Charlemagne wielded the authority of an Imperator Romanus, his
papal contemporary that of a Pontifex Maximus. Then came the
decay and fall of the Carlovingian fabric; and, gradually, the Papacy
built up a spiritual empire with the débris of the secular. All Catholics
were subjects of that Empire. In the Middle Ages Europe presented a
picture of wonderful uniformity in sentiments, ideals, customs,
political and social institutions. All countries, like so many coins
issued from one mint, seemed to be cast in the same mould,
stamped with the same effigy and adorned with the same legend.
National consciousness was in the Middle Ages practically non-
existent, or, if it did exist, in the later centuries, it was obscured by
the religious sentiment. As in modern Islam we find Arabs, Persians,
Indians, Malays, Chinese, Syrians, Egyptians, Berbers, Moors,
Turks, Albanians—nations differing widely in origin and language—
united by the ties of a common creed, so in mediaeval Christendom
we find English, Scotch, French, Italian, German and Spanish
knights all forming one vast brotherhood. The reader of Froissart
cannot fail to notice this community of feeling and the marvellous
ease with which gentlemen from all those nations made themselves
at home in one another’s countries. The chronicler himself, in his
style and mental attitude, supplies a striking example of this
cosmopolitanism. By the mediaeval Christian, as by the modern
Mohammedan, the human race was divided into two halves: true
believers and others. The universal acceptance of Latin as the
medium of communication was another token and bond of
brotherhood among the Christians of mediaeval Europe, as the use
of Arabic, as a sacred tongue, is a token and a bond of brotherhood
among the Mohammedans of the present day.
This feeling of international patriotism, which found its highest
development and expression in the Crusades, began to fade as soon
as Catholic faith began to decay. Disintegration followed both in the
Church and in the State. Loyalty to one ideal and to one authority
was gradually superseded by local and later by racial patriotism.
Various political units succeeded to the Unity of mediaeval Europe,
the vernaculars ousted the Latin language from its position as the
one vehicle of thought, and the old cosmopolitan universities of Paris
and Bologna were replaced by national institutions. Since the
fifteenth century nationalism has been growing steadily, but in the
eighteenth its growth was to some extent checked by
humanitarianism. The great thinkers of that age extolled the freedom
and the perfection of the individual as the highest aim of culture,
describing exclusive attachment to one’s country and race as a
characteristic of a comparatively barbarous state of society: a
remnant of aboriginal ancestor-worship. Nationalism, accordingly, did
not reach its adolescence until the nineteenth century. Then the zeal
for peace was eclipsed by the splendour of the French exploits in
war, and the doctrine of universal freedom was forgotten in
Napoleon’s efforts at universal dominion. These efforts aroused in
every country which Napoleon attacked a passionate protest which
resulted in successful revolt. But the triumph was won at a
tremendous cost. Each nation in proportion to its sense of what was
due to itself was oblivious of what was due to others. The principles
of the brotherhood of men and of universal toleration were denied,
the narrow jealousies of race which the philosophers of the
preceding century had driven from the realm of culture were re-
installed, and Nationalism—arrogant, intemperate, and intolerant—
arose on the ruins of Humanitarianism. This evolution, or revolution,
has added a new element in social troubles, and has brought into
being a new set of ideas.
For the last hundred years ethnographical theory has dominated
the civilised world and its destinies as theological dogma had done
during the Middle Ages. Consciously or not, the idea of race directs
the policy of nations, inspires their poetry, and tinges their philosophy
with the same prejudice as religion did formerly. Aryan and non-
Aryan have become terms conveying all but the odious connotation
of Christian and infidel; and in place of the spiritual we have adopted
a scientific mythology. The fiction of our Aryan origin has flattered us
into the benevolent belief of our mental superiority over the Mongol,
and of our moral superiority over the Semite. To dispute this tenet is
to commit sacrilege. But even within the bosom of this imaginary
Aryan fold there are schisms: so-called Celtic, Germanic, Latin,
Anglo-Saxon, and Slavonic sects, divided against one another by the
phantom barriers of ethnographical speculation as frantically as in
older days Christendom was divided by the metaphysical figments of
Arian, Manichaean, Nestorian, and what not. In the name of race are
now done as many great deeds and as many great follies are
committed as were once in the name of God. The worship of race
has, as the worship of the Cross had done before, given birth to new
Crusades which have equalled the old in the degree to which they
have disturbed the peace and agitated the minds of men, and in the
violence of the passions which they have excited. Nationalism more
than any other cause has helped to bring discredit upon the
principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity—to prove the eighteenth
century dream of world-wide peace a glorious impossibility—and to
show the enormous chasm which still gapes between the aspirations
of a few thinkers and the instincts of the masses.
Though common to all European countries, the creed of the age
found articulate exposition first in Germany, and gave rise to various
academic doctrines which attempted to account for the genesis and
evolution of Nationalism in scientific or pseudo-scientific terms. But
names do not alter facts. Ethnographical speculations are in this
case mainly interesting as having supplied a plausible explanation
for the rise of anti-Semitism. Those who are able to see through new
guises, and to detect what old things they conceal, know that anti-
Semitism is little more than a new Protean manifestation of Jew-
hatred. Divested of its academic paraphernalia, the movement is
revealed in all its venerable vulgarity—a hoary-headed abomination
long since excommunicated by the conscience of civilised mankind.
This reactionary movement began in Eastern Germany and
230
Austria. In those countries the Jews are very numerous, very
wealthy, and very influential. Both countries are famous as hot-beds
of racial fanaticism. In Germany Nationalism was begotten of the
independence secured by the Thirty Years’ War in the seventeenth
century, was nursed by the patriotic preachers and poets of the
eighteenth, was invigorated by the wars for emancipation from
Napoleon’s rule, and was educated by Hegel and his disciples. The
Jews in Germany, as elsewhere, are the one element which declines
to be fused in the nationalist crucible. Their international connections
help them to overstep the barriers of country. Their own racial
consciousness, fostered by the same writers, is at least as intense
as that of the Germans; but it does not coincide with any
geographical entity. They are, therefore, regarded as a cosmopolitan
tribe—“everywhere and nowhere at home.” They are distinct not only
as a race, but as a sect, and as a class. Accordingly, the reaction
against tolerance includes in its ranks clerics and Christian
Socialists, aristocrats, as well as Nationalists, that is, the enemies of
dissent and the enemies of wealth, as well as the enemies of the
alien and the enemies of the upstart. And the term “Jew” is used in a
religious or a racial sense according to the speaker. In both Germany
and Austria we saw that the philosophical gospel of social liberty was
very slowly applied to practical politics, and that, even when it had
been accepted, it was subject to reactions. When Jewish
manumission was finally accomplished, the Jews by their genius
filled a much larger place in the sphere of national life than was
deemed proportional to their numbers. And this undue
preponderance, rendered all the easier by the superior cohesion of
the Jewish over the German social system, was further accentuated
by specialisation. The Jews, whose training in Europe for centuries,
owing partly to their own racial instincts and Rabbinical teaching, but
chiefly to the conditions imposed upon them from outside, had been
of a peculiar kind, showed these peculiarities by their choice of fields
of activity. They abstained from the productive and concentrated
their efforts to the intellectual, financial, and distributive industries of
the countries of which they became enfranchised citizens. Jews
flooded the Universities, the Academies, the Medical Profession, the
Civil Service, and the Bar. Many of the judges, and nearly one-half of
the practising lawyers of Germany, are said to be Jews. Jews came
forth as authors, journalists, and artists. Above all, Jews, thanks to
the hereditary faculty for accumulation fostered in them during the
long period when money-dealing was the one pursuit open to them,
asserted themselves as financiers. It is impossible to move
anywhere in Berlin or Vienna without seeing the name of Israel
written in great letters of gold not only over the shops, but over the
whole face of German life. Success awakened jealousy, and
economic distress—due to entirely different causes—stimulated it.
What if the competition was fair? What if the Jews were
distinguished by their peaceful and patriotic attitude? What if they
supplied the least proportion of criminals and paupers? What if
German freedom had been bought partially with Jewish blood, and
German unity achieved by the help of Jewish brains and Jewish
money?
The landed gentry, richer in ancestors than in money or
intelligence, had every reason to envy the Jew’s wealth, and much
reason to dislike the Jew’s ostentatious display of it. They could not
respect in the Jew a gifted arrivé. They saw in him a vulgar parvenu
—one who by his “subversive Mephistophelian endowment, brains,”
demolishes the fences of creed and caste, and invades the highest
and most exclusive circles, thus acting as a solvent in society. If he is
wise, the proud nobleman of narrow circumstances makes his pride
compensate for his poverty, and magnanimously despises the
luxuries which he cannot procure. If, as more often happens, he is
foolish, he enters into a rivalry of vanity with the upstart, and the
result is a mortgaged estate—mortgaged most likely to his rival. In
either case, he can have little love for the opulent and clever
interloper. The animosity of the aristocracy is shared by the middle
classes, and for analogous reasons. The German professional man,
and more especially his wife, resents his Jewish colleague’s
comparative luxury as a personal affront. The excessive power of
money in modern society, and the consequent diminution of the
respect once paid to blood or learning, naturally enable the Jewish
banker to succeed where the poor baron fails; and the Jewish
professor or doctor, though many of these latter are poor enough, to
outshine his Christian competitor. This excessive power of money is
due to causes far deeper than the enfranchisement of the Jews. It is
the normal result of Germany’s modern development. The influence
of the nobles depended largely on their domains of land; and when
industries arose to compete with agriculture, the importance of land
necessarily declined. At the same time, industry and commerce
began, with Germany’s expansion, to divert more and more the
attention of the intelligent from the path of academic distinction—
once the only path to honour open to the ambitious burgher—into
that of material prosperity. Chrematistic enterprise has introduced a
new social standard, and an aristocracy of wealth has come to
supplant the old aristocracies of birth and erudition. This social
revolution, through which every country in the world has passed and
has to pass, was unhesitatingly ascribed to the Jew, who was thus
accused of having created the conditions, which in reality he had
only exploited.
If from the aristocratic and the cultured classes we turn to the
rural population, we find similar causes yielding similar results. In the
German country districts it is objected to the Jews not cultivating the
land themselves, but lying in wait for the failing farmer:
“Everywhere,” says an authority, “the peasant proprietor hated the
Jew,” and he proceeds to sketch the peasant tragedy of which that
hatred was the consequence. The land had to be mortgaged to pay
family claims; the owner had recourse to the ubiquitous and
importunate money-lender; the money-lender, whose business it is to
trade upon the necessity of the borrower, took advantage of the
latter’s distress, and extorted as much as he could. “The Jew grew
fat as the Gentile got lean. A few bad harvests, cattle-plague, or
potato-disease, and the wretched peasant, clinging with the
unreasonable frantic love of a faithful animal to its habitat, had, in
dumb agony, to see his farm sold up, his stock disposed of, and the
acres he had toiled early and late to redeem, and watered by the
sweat of his stubborn brow, knocked down by the Jewish interloper
231
to the highest bidder.” In the Austrian country districts it is urged
that the presence of the Jew is synonymous with misery; his
absence with comparative prosperity. In Hungary, the late M. Elisée
Reclus—the famous author of the Nouvelle Géographie Universelle
—informs us, “The rich magnate goes bankrupt, and it is almost
always a Jew who acquires the encumbered property,” and another
witness adds: “The Jew is no less active in profiting by the vices and
necessities of the peasant than by those of the noble.” In Galicia,
especially, we are told that the land is rapidly passing into the hands
of the Jews, and that many a former proprietor is now reduced to
work as a day-labourer in his own farm for the benefit of a Jewish
master. All this is an absurdly exaggerated version of facts in
themselves sad enough. The Jews as a whole are by no means a
wealthy community, and the gainers by the supposed exploitation
are the few, not the many. And if, as is the case, the condition of
affairs in agricultural states is bad, who is to blame? Wherever there
is agrarian depression there are sure to be money-lenders enough
and Shylocks too many. It does not appear that Christian money-
lenders have ever been more tender-hearted than their Jewish
confrères. Why then set down to the Jew, as a Jew, what is the
common and inevitable attribute of his profession? The ruin of the
borrower does not justify the slaughter of the lender. Philanthropists
would be better employed if, instead of bewailing in mournful
diatribes the woes of the bankrupt peasant and inveighing against
the cruelty of his oppressor, combined to establish agricultural banks
where the farmer could obtain money at less exorbitant interest. This
measure, and measures like this, not slaughter and senile
lamentation, would be a remedy consonant both with the nature of
the evil and with the dictates of civilisation and justice. Until
something of the sort is done, it is worse than futile to demand that
dealers in money, any more than dealers in corn, cotton, or cheese,
should work from altruistic motives. But nothing rational is ever
attempted. Instead, everywhere the nobles ruined by their own
improvidence and extravagance, the peasants by their rustic
incompetence, and both by the exactions of a wasting militarism,
complain of the extortion of the Jewish usurers. It was inevitable that
the old-world monster of Jew-hatred, never really dead, should have
raised its hoary head again. All the elements of an anti-Jewish
movement were present. The only thing that lacked was opportunity.
The deficiency was not long in being supplied.
The Franco-German war and the achievement of German unity
fanned the flame of patriotism. As in the time of Napoleon the First,
so in that of Napoleon III., a great national danger created a strong
fellow-feeling between the different members of the German race; a
great national triumph stirred up an enthusiasm for the Empire which
was indulged in at the cost of individual liberty. Despotism throve on
the exuberance of nationalism. The Germans were led back from the
constitutional and democratic ideals of 1848 to an ultra-monarchic
servility which made it possible for the present Kaiser’s grandfather a
few years after, prompted by Bismarck, to assert openly the
ridiculous old claim to divine right. Thus the ground was prepared for
any anti-alien and anti-liberal agitation. Other causes came to
accelerate the movement. The war had involved enormous
pecuniary and personal sacrifices. The extraordinary success,
instead of satisfying, stimulated German ambition. It aroused an
extravagant financial optimism and self-confidence. Germany,
intoxicated with military victory, was still thirsting for aggrandisement
of a different kind. Economy was cast to the winds, and a fever of
wild speculation seized on all classes of the community. Companies
were floated, and swallowed up the superfluous capital of the great
as well as the savings of the humble. Sanguine expectation was the
temper of the day. Berlin would vie with Paris in elegance and with
London in suburban comfort, and every one of its citizens would be a
millionaire!
Then came the terrible crash. The bubble burst, and the
magnificent day-dreams were dispelled by misery. A succession of
bad harvests, and the rapid increase in American corn competition,
by impoverishing the agricultural class, added to the general
depression. The disillusioned public wanted a victim whereupon to
vent its wrath. Those who promoted the companies had to suffer for
the folly of those who were ruined by their failure. A great many of
the former, by selling out at the right moment, rose to affluence. The
discontented public, naturally enough, noticing these large fortunes
in the midst of the general wreck, jumped to the conclusion that the
few had enriched themselves by robbing the many. “Exposures”
followed, and among the implicated financiers there were found
many Jews. It was then in order to fill Jewish pockets that the heroes
of Germany had bled on the battlefield, and the burghers of
Germany had been bled at home! The nationalist ideal of Germany
for the Germans, then, was to lead to a Germany for the Israelites!
All those trials had been endured and all those triumphs achieved in
order to deliver up the Fatherland to an alien and infidel race—a race
with which neither the intellect nor the heart of Germany has any
affinity or sympathy! This was the cry of anguish that succeeded to
the paeans of self-glorification, and those nationalists who uttered
these sentiments forgot that their very nationalism had been largely
created and fostered by Jewish thinkers. They also forgot that it was
a Jewish statesman, Lasker, who, at the cost of all personal and
party interests and of his popularity, had alone had the courage to
expose in the Prussian Chamber the evils of extravagant
speculation, in 1873, and to urge both the public and the
Government to turn back, while there was yet time, from the road to
ruin which they pursued. But it has been well said: “Who would think
of gratitude when a scapegoat is required?”
A tongue was given to the popular indignation in a pamphlet by
an obscure German journalist, Wilhelm Marr by name, who seized
the opportunity of attaining to fame and fortune by a plentiful effusion
of his anti-Jewish venom. The work anathematized the Jews not only
as blood-sucking leeches, but as enemies of the Germanic race, and
as forming a distinct and self-centred solecism in German national
life. The Coryphaeus was ably supported by a crowd hitherto mute.
The opponents of industrial and the opponents of religious liberalism,
men of rank, men of letters, and high ecclesiastics joined in the
chorus, and another “black day” (July 30, 1878) was added to the
Jewish calendar. In Adolph Stöcker, a Christian Socialist and court
preacher, and a staunch Conservative in the Prussian Diet, the new
crusade found its Peter the Hermit. He was the first man of position
to preach from the pulpit and to declare in the press that Hebrew
influence in the State was disastrous to the Christian section of the
community, that Semitic preponderance was fatal to the Teutonic
race. As though the printing presses of Germany were only waiting
for the signal, a whole library of anti-Semitic literature was rapidly
produced, and as rapidly consumed. Some of the most popular
journals opened their columns to the campaign, Jewish journalists
opposed violence with violence, and the feud daily assumed larger
dimensions, until by the end of 1879 it had spread and raged over
the whole of the empire.
“It is not right that the minority should rule over the majority,”
cried some. Others accused the Jews, loosely and without adducing
any proofs, of forming a freemasonry and of always placing the
interests of their brethren above those of the country. That there was
some kind of systematic co-operation among the Jews seems
probable. It is also probable that there was a certain degree of truth
in the charge of “clandestine manipulation of the press” for the
purpose of shielding even Jews unworthy of protection. But for this
the Germans had only themselves to thank. By attacking the Jews
as a tribe they stimulated the tribal feeling among them. The social
isolation to which they condemned the Jew intensified his gift of
reciprocity. To the German Christians the Jew, however patriotic and
unexceptionable he may be as a citizen, as a man is a Jew—an
alien, an infidel, an upstart, a parasite. His genius is said to be purely
utilitarian, his religion externally an observance of empty forms,
essentially a worship of the golden calf, and worldly success his
highest moral ideal. German professors analysed the Jewish mind
and found it Semitic, German theologians sought for the Jewish soul
and could find none. Both classes, agreeing in nothing else,
concurred in denouncing the Jew as a sinister creature, strangely
wanting in spiritual qualities—a being whose whole existence, devoid

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