(a) whether the Government has identified polluted river stretches in the country;
(b) if so, the names of the rivers along with their polluted stretches, State-wise;
(c) whether it is a fact that the number of polluted stretches of the rivers is increasing in the country, if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; and
(d) the remedial measures taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)
(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.304 to be answered on Tuesday, the 8th August, 2017 on ‘Polluted River Stretches’ by Shri Harishchandra Chavan & Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava.
(a) to (c) The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) monitors the river water quality across the country through a network of monitoring stations on various rivers under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWQMP). CPCB in its Report of 2010 identified 150 polluted river stretches in the country, based on Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels, a key indicator of organic pollution. As per the subsequent report published by CPCB in February 2015, 302 polluted river stretches have been identified on 275 rivers. The State-wise details of rivers and identified polluted stretches are at Annexure. The increase in polluted river stretches can be attributed to increase in the number of rivers being monitored and number of water quality monitoring stations of CPCB/SPCBs over the years (from 1085 monitoring stations in 2010 to 1275 stations in 2015) as well as increase in pollution loads primarily due to rapid urbanization.
(d) Pollution abatement of rivers is a continuous and ongoing process. It is the responsibility of the State Governments/concerned local bodies to set up proper facilities for collection, transportation and treatment of sewage being generated and ensure that untreated sewage does not fall into the rivers thereby polluting them. This Ministry has been supplementing the efforts of the State Governments in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers under National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and NGRBA (National Ganga River Basin Authority) programmes. The NGRBA programme along with work of Ganga & its tributaries is with Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR) from 01/08/2014 onwards. The programmes of NRCP & NGRBA (till 31/07/2014) have covered polluted stretches of 43 rivers in 200 towns spread over 21 States at a sanctioned cost of Rs. 12202.59 crore and sewage treatment capacity of 5251.43 million litres per day (mld) has been created so far under these two programmes. This includes polluted stretches of 31 rivers in 75 towns spread over 14 States at a sanctioned cost of Rs.4517.82 crore under the NRCP (excluding Ganga and its tributaries), for which Central share of Rs.2066.98 crore has been released to the State Governments and sewage treatment capacity of 2455.43 mld has been created.
Further, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (under the MoWR,RD&GR) has taken up projects for pollution abatement and conservation of river Ganga under the Namami Gange programme. State Governments, apart from their own budgetary allocation, are also accessing financial assistance for creation of sewerage infrastructure, including sewage treatment plants, in various cities/towns under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) & Smart Cities Mission programmes of Ministry of Urban Development.
To ensure proper treatment of municipal wastewater before discharge into the rivers, CPCB has issued directions under Section 18 1(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 in April, 2015 to all the State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees in the country, for setting up of sewage treatment plants in their respective States. CPCB also issued directions in October, 2015 to 69 municipal authorities of metropolitan cities and State capitals, under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to ensure proper treatment and disposal of sewage generated for abatement of pollution of rivers.
To control discharge of industrial effluents, the CPCB and respective State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees monitor industries with respect to effluents discharge standards and take action for non-compliance under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. To improve the monitoring of compliance, directions have been issued to specific industries to install online 24x7 effluent and emission monitoring devices. Steps have also been taken by CPCB to promote low waste concept in various water polluting industries, including those located on the river banks, by bringing down water consumption levels and recycling of treated effluents.
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