Ganga getting highly polluted after Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, finds report
The Ganga is getting highly polluted after Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh and the stretch from Kannauj to Prayagraj has seen deterioration in quality of the river’s water, a report by the Justice Singh-headed oversight committee has stated.
The oversight committee on water quality, untapped drains and status of STPs in Uttar Pradesh has found that while the quality of water of Ganga is fit for outdoor bathing at Bijnor district, where the river enters from neighbouring Uttarakhand, the quality worsens downstream from thereon.
Based on the reports filed by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) regarding quality of water in different parts of the Ganga River, the committee found that the biological oxygen demand (BOD) or dissolved oxygen level was 1.4 milligram per litre (mg / l) at the place where Ganga entered Bijnor. The water quality was of B category, which was fit for outdoor bathing. But, at Garhmukteshwar, the water quality was found to be of C category and when the Ganga entered Kannauj district, water quality changed from C to D, with a BOD level of 3.3 mg / l.
From Bithoor in Kanpur to Prayagraj (Allahabad), the water quality of the Ganga remained in category D. The BOD level of the Ganga in Vindhyachal, within Mirzapur district was found to be of C category, which further worsened to D after Mirzapur and remained the same in Ghazipur.
In Noida, the BOD level of the Yamuna at Gharbara or Filwara was 50.8 mg litre and the water quality was reported to be E, which can only be used for irrigation, industrial cooling and controlled waste disposal.
The BOD level at Vrindavan and Mathura was reported to be of water quality D.
More than 50 per cent STPs were also not properly functioning and sewage generated from Lucknow city was directly discharged into the Gomti River, causing water pollution. Many STPs were found to be overflowing and no action was being taken by the water works department.
Also, as many as 33 drains were falling into the Ganga in Ghazipur district and there was only one STP in the district. Similarly, 10 drains in Varanasi, 32 in Prayagraj, 16 in Mirzapur and 13 in district Kanpur were directly falling into the Ganga, the report, which was based on inputs from various districts from Bijnor to Ghazipur in January, April, August and December 2019, stated.
