European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

WATER POLLUTION ASSOCIATED WITH BIOMEDICAL WASTE GENERATED DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Ratnum Kaul Wattal* and Devender Mudgil

ABSTRACT

Water is a vital component of life and therefore is required for sustainability. It is an extremely threatened natural resource today. Despite tremendous efforts towards providing safe and affordable drinking water to all, there still exists a large population who do not have access to the same. Problem of water pollution is continuously increasing. The recent outbreak of Covid-19 has made the situation worse. The pandemic has resulted in generation of large volume of biomedical waste. There already were different sources of water pollution but enormous use of chemicals, protective gear, sanitizers, radioactive compounds, drugs, swabs, sharps, syringes etc. have further compounded the problem. Generation of the biomedical waste being collected in landfills or in open dumping sites is resulting in leaching of toxic compounds into the ground water. Immediate stringent policies and measures need to be implemented before it is too late to reverse the catastrophic effects.

Keywords: Water, Pollution, COVID-19, Biomedical waste.