(a) whether the Government is aware that contaminated and polluted water is being fed into the sea;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the efforts being made by the Government to deal with the situation;
(c) whether pollution is effectively controlled in harbors/fishing harbors across the country; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a )to (d) Due to rapid increase of population and resultant wastewater generation from the urban centres, treated /partially treated or untreated wastewater finds its way into the nearby waterbodies including sea. The development of adequate wastewater treatment facilities is not commensurate with the increasing wastewater generation in urban centres in the country.The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is monitoring the water quality of both surface and ground water under the National Water Monitoring Programme (NWMP) through a network of4022 locations which includes Creeks/ Sea Water/Marine water quality at 73 locations. The water quality is assessed for various parameters, including physico-chemical, bacteriological, heavy metals, pesticides, etc.
Further, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has made assessment of sewage generation from Class – I and Class – II towns across the country along with its treatment capacity during March 2015. According to CPCB’s assessment, total sewage generation is 61,948 Million Litres per day (MLD) whereas the available sewage treatment capacity is 23,277 MLD which is only 37 per cent of the sewage generation.
The Government has taken various initiatives towards control of pollution of marine water, inter alia, include monitoring of marine pollution through COMAPS Programme by Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management Project directorate (ICMAM), Chennai, establishment of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) under the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005 to regulate coastal aquaculture activities in coastal areas, Notification of Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) in 2011 to prohibit the discharge of untreated waste water and effluents into the coast/ sea.,
In addition to these the Government has also taken several measures to check the pollution of water bodies including marine water, inter alia, include formulation and notification of standards for effluents from industries, operations or processes; enforcing of these standards by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) through consent mechanism and regular monitoring;; installation of Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring systems (OCEMS) to check the discharge of effluent directly into water bodies; promotion of cleaner production processes; installation of Common Effluent Treatment Plants for cluster of Small Scale Industrial units; issuance of directions under Section 5 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and under Section 18(1)(b) of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, etc.
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