Water quality in Ganga, Beas, Sutlej, Chambal and Swarnarekha did not improve during lockdown period, says a CPCB report
NEW DELHI: Quality of water in the rivers Ganga, Beas, Chambal, Sutlej and Swarnarekha did not impro..
NEW DELHI: Quality of water in the rivers Ganga, Beas, Chambal, Sutlej and Swarnarekha did not improve during the lockdown period, possibly due to the discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage, says the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in a report on water quality of 19 rivers during the lockdown period. It notes that the water quality in Ganga had even deteriorated at certain stretches.
The report, released on Wednesday, says six rivers – Baitarani, Brahmani, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Narmada and Pennar – showed "full compliance" with the primary water quality criteria for outdoor bathing standard during pre-lockdown and lockdown period.
It says the water quality of two rivers – Sabarmati and Mahi – remains unchanged in terms of compliance. Total seven out of 19 major rivers in India recorded an improvement in water quality in April, as compared to the period before the lockdown, which may be attributed to availability of adequate infrastructure for management of sewage in the catchment of the respective river bodies and might had adequate dilution.
The State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) had collected samples from 387 monitoring locations during pre-lockdown (March) and lockdown (April) period and analysed the data. The analysis showed that 331 out of 365 monitored locations for dissolved oxygen (DO), 355 monitored locations for pH, 298 monitored locations for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and 299 monitored locations for Faecal Coliform (FC) were complying with the outdoor bathing water quality criteria.
Improvement in water quality was also noticed in Cauvery, Godavari, Krishna, Tapi and Yamuna. The report says that it may be attributed to minimal industrial effluent discharges in view of closure of almRead More – Source
