Clean up polluted river stretches

A report by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 311 stretches in 279 rivers in the country as polluted stretches. According to the report, though the number of polluted stretches has come down from 351 in 2018 to 311 now, the number of ‘most polluted’ stretches remains the same. The most polluted stretches are in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra has the highest number of polluted stretches at 55. It is also among the states where the number of polluted stretches has increased. The water quality in rivers is assessed periodically and those exceeding specified levels of Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) are classified as polluted. Water in such stretches is unfit not only for drinking but also for bathing.

BOD is used to measure the amount of dissolved oxygen, and high levels of it indicate that water is polluted by organic matter.

There is not much of a difference between polluted stretches and most polluted stretches. Both are bad for the health of human beings and other flora and fauna that live in or depend on river water. Large numbers of people in the country still drink water from the rivers and use it for bathing, and so the polluted stretches affect millions of people. Fish and other aquatic lives get affected.

Their numbers get depleted and those who consume them are affected, too. Rivers are polluted mainly with the industrial pollutants and urban sewage that are discharged into them. It is no surprise that Maharashtra has the most number of polluted stretches because it is also the most industrialised state in the country. Increasing urbanisation leads to the discharge of more and more sewage, waste water and other pollutants into the rivers that choke and spoil the water.

Efforts to clean up the rivers have not generally succeeded. Major rivers like the Ganga and the Yamuna are badly polluted and programmes like Namami Gange and its predecessor, the Ganga Action Plan, and three Yamuna Action Plans have not had much impact on these rivers. Thousands of crores of rupees have been spent on these and other rivers. Though factories are required to treat effluents before they are discharged into rivers, the rule is observed more in violation. Cities and towns also do not make adequate arrangements to treat domestic sewage. Pollution control bodies have plans but they are not implemented. Municipal and other local government bodies are the most important agencies that should ensure that the plans are implemented effectively. Only programmes with active involvement of communities will work, and so all efforts should aim at the highest social and popular participation in them.