The water quality of almost the entire stretch of River Ganga has improved to a level where it is clean enough for bathing following the implementation of the Namami Gange Programme, Parliament was informed on Monday.
Under the Namami Gange Programme, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is carrying out water quality assessment of the River Ganga at 97 locations in 5 main stem States through the respective State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
“As per CPCB data for 2021, the observed water quality of river Ganga indicates that Dissolved Oxygen (DO), which is an indicator of river health has been found to be within acceptable limits of notified primary bathing water quality criteria and is satisfactory to support the ecosystem of the river for almost the entire stretch of the river Ganga,” the minister stated in the reply.
"The comparison of median data of water quality parameters viz., DO, BOD and Faecal coliforms (FC) of year 2014 and 2021 shows that DO (Median) has improved at 31 locations; BOD at 46 locations and FC at 23 locations, respectively," the minister said.
A total of 364 projects have been sanctioned under the programme at an estimated cost of Rs 30,853 crore and 183 projects have been completed and made operational under the Namami Gange Programme
"Out of these 364 projects, 160 projects belonging to sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up for creation and rehabilitation of 5024 Million Litres per Day(MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant capacity and laying of 5,227 km of sewerage network, out of which 76 projects have been completed resulting in creation and rehabilitation of 1,079 MLD of STP capacity and laying of 3,860 km sewerage network," he said.
Rest of the projects are at various stages of implementation, he explained.
The programme involves a diverse set of interventions for cleaning and rejuvenation of river Ganga have been taken up including waste water treatment, solid waste management, river front management (ghats and crematoria), maintaining continuous flow, rural sanitation, afforestation, biodiversity conservation and Public Participation etc. Namami Gange is a scientific programme based on Ganga River Basin Management Plan (GRBMP) which was prepared by a consortium of 7 IITs led by IIT-Kanpur.
Prior to the launch of Namami Gange programme in 2014, only 28 projects existed with a sewage treatment capacity of 462.85 MLD.
Apart from the main Ganga Stem, projects are also taken up in 15 tributaries namely Yamuna, Kosi, Saryu, Ramganga, Kali (West), Kali (East), Gomti, Son, Barakar, Hindon, Burhi Gandak, Banka, Damodar, Rispana-Bindal and Chamba as part of the Namami Gange programme.
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