Ganga water has heavy metal, pesticide traces: CPCB

Water quality of river Ganga shows the presence of bacterial contamination besides traces of pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides, says the apex pollution monitoring body CPCB.
In a detailed report covering various aspects of contamination in the river, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has informed the National Green Tribunal that the Ganga, spanning a distance of 543 km between Haridwar and Kanpur, was affected by 1,072 seriously polluting industries which are releasing heavy metals and pesticides.
"Before many years/centuries, the river was not blocked for any purpose and due to limited habitation on the bank of the river, hardly there was disposal of any waste into the river. Now, the River Ganga is blocked/dammed at many places (upper Himalayan stretches and on the plains such as Haridwar, Bijnor, Narora and Kanpur) and water has been diverted for various uses. As a result, the water quality and ecological sanctity is threatened.

"Water quality of River Ganga is showing presence of bacterial contamination besides reporting of presence of trace pollutants like heavy metals and pesticides in some of the studies," CPCB said in the report filed in pursuance to the NGT's September 6 order.
At present, 823.1 million litres per day (MLD) of untreated sewage and 212.42 MLD of industrial effluent flows into the river while three of the four monitored Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) were non-compliant with the set standards, it said.
With regard to Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) by industries, CPCB said it has already directed them to achieve ZLD in distillery, tannery and textile units as it was mandatory that pollutants like chromium, total dissolved solid and other chemicals are separated before they are disposed of.

The apex pollution monitoring body told the tribunal that

there were 33 drains which join Ganga on the stretch from Haridwar to Unnao and a total of 5834 million litres per day sewage was being discharged into the river.
CPCB said that quantity of water was decreasing in the river while sewage was increasing. The major issue is of faecal coliform which makes the water of Ganga unfit for bathing, it said.
The green panel has divided the work of cleaning the river in different segments -- Gomukh to Haridwar (Phase-I), Haridwar to Unnao (termed as segment B of Phase-I), Unnao to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.

The tribunal had earlier said ill-planning and unscientific approach by the authorities has to led to the chaotic condition faced by the Ganga.
Last year, the tribunal had imposed a complete ban on use of plastic of any kind from Gomukh to Haridwar along the river from February 1 and decided to slap a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamsalas and ashrams spewing waste.