Goa Beaches facing Health Hazards: Copious Quantities of Garbage and Litter pile up

New Delhi: The post- covid resumption of mass tourism in Goa has led to copious quantities of garbage and litter being dumped back on to the state’s eight popular beaches and the seas alongside posing health hazards to visiting tourists and locals.

There exists looming concern on the harmful effects of garbage on human health and marine ecosystems.
According to a recent study by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), roughly eight million tonnes of plastic garbage wash into the ocean every year. All the oil spilled in the Arabian sea eventually gets deposited on the western coast in the form of tarballs during monsoon, when the wind speed and circulation patterns favour their transportation.

Formed out of dumped oil and ballast from seafaring vessels, tar balls in the beaches of Goa are presenting an environmental health hazard.

Several microbes present in the tar balls aid in degrading the hydrocarbons. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in them contain pollutants like fluorine, naphthalene, acenaphthene and 13 others.

There is sufficient evidence to conclude that PAHs like benzopyrene and chrysene are carcinogenic even at very low concentrations.

Tar-balls can be hazardous to human life due to the presence of vibrio vulnificus, the bacteria whose entry through wounds could be fatal, according to medico- scientific studies.

These petroleum blobs also affect marine biodiversity in several ways, such as disturbing turtle habitats. This in turn, augments the impact on humans who consume marine fish.

It is to be noted that swimming in beach water polluted by sewage is associated with gastroenteritis. It occurs in a variety of forms that can have one or more of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, stomachache, diarrhea, headache or fever. Other minor illnesses associated with swimming include ear, eye, nose and throat infections. In highly polluted water, swimmers may occasionally be exposed to more serious diseases.

Another potential source of illness includes some types of cyanobacteria that form algal “blooms” (dis-colored water) and the toxins they produce. When people are exposed to cyanotoxins, they may have hay fever-like symptoms, skin rashes, sore throat, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or even kidney or liver damage.                            (Tar balls on Goa Beach)

Scientific studies all over the globe conclude, not all illnesses from a day at the beach are from swimming. Food poisoning from improperly refrigerated picnic lunches may also have some of the same symptoms as swimming- related illnesses, including stomachache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

*Dr. Narresh Purohit-MD, DNB, DIH, MHA, MRCP(UK), is an Epidemiologist, and Advisor-National Communicable Disease Control Program of Govt. of India, Madhya Pradesh and several state organizations.)

Mr. Purohit is also Advisor -National Programme on Climate Change & Human Health (NPCCHH) and
Principal Investigator for the International Academy of Environmental Sanitation and Public Health (IAESPH)