Less than 5% of polluted river stretches identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) across the country in 2018 are likely to be remedied by the year end. This in spite of an order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that directed all cleaning measures be commissioned by March 2021.
These estimates were per part of a quarterly report submitted by the National Mission for Clean Ganga that has been tasked with overseeing the implementation of the clean-up and filing quarterly reports on progress made by States.
In 2018, the CPCB had identified 351 stretches of rivers across the country where the Biological Oxygen Demand, Dissolved Oxygen levels, faecal coliform — biochemical parameters that are proxies to gauge the health of rivers — breached recommended standards. In September 2018, The Hindu reported on this, on the basis of which the NGT issued orders directing States to submit action plans on how they would clean up these rivers. States responded with details on the extent of the pollution in stretches, factors affecting seasonal variations in water quality and the state of sewage treatment plants as well as drainage infrastructure.
States were ordered by the NGT to ensure that infrastructure to treat “100% of sewage generated” be created by March 31, 2021, failing which States would be fined ₹10 lakh per incomplete sewage treatment plant (STP).
53 projects nearly ready
STPs with a cumulative capacity of treating 5500 million litres a day (MLD) are in various stages of development across the country. Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Punjab, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will be able to complete 53 projects with a capacity of about 867.46 MLD in polluted river stretches by December 2020. “With the completion of these projects, at least 13 stretches of polluted rivers will have water of acceptable standards, thereby leading to healthier environmental norms,” the report noted.
It was likely that 41 projects in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would be completed during January 2021-March 2021, though the report did not say how many additional stretches of river would be cleaned were this to happen.
The report rues that many projects would be unable to meet the NGT’s March deadline. “It is apparent that all these projects will be spilling beyond the timelines prescribed by Hon’ble Tribunal in its order. States have been requested to... review whether the timelines of these projects can be compressed for effecting their early completion. States of J&K, Kerala, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have not given timelines for completion of their ongoing projects.”
There are 126 projects under tendering in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Punjab, U.P. and West Bengal.
Key reasons
The key reasons for States being unable to ensure unpolluted stretches are sub-optimal use of sewage treatment plants, the COVID pandemic that led to a cessation of sewage treatment infrastructure and non availability of funds, the report noted.
Mr. U.P. Singh, Secretary, Jal Shakti Ministry, said in letter to States in July that State pollution control boards ought to be monitoring more strictly the effluent discharge by industrial units into drains, that ends up contaminating and polluting stretches.
Many rivers were also polluted due to inadequate water dilution as they were non-perennial and smaller tributaries, water bodies and lakes ought to be “rejuvenated” to improve flow and dilution, his letter added.
