GANGA RIVER POLLUTION

Jan. 28, 2019

A government- commissioned assessment of 92 towns along the Ganga river has found that in several of them, drains flow directly into the river.

About:

The findings come Four-and-a-half years after the Union Government launched its flagship Namami Gange programme to clean up the Ganga.
The third-party assessment done by the Quality Council of India (QCI), which was conducted in November and December 2018, was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).
It covered 92 of the 97 towns along the river, located in five States: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
The towns were assessed on four parameters: overall cleanliness; the availability of a municipal solid waste plant; the installation of screens placed over nullahs; and solid waste management services.

Key findings of the study:

Of the 92 towns surveyed, 75% still have old or legacy dump sites on the Ghats. Only 19 towns have a municipal solid waste plant.
72% of towns have at least one nullah or drain flowing into the river.
85% of the drains discharging into the Ganga did not even have screens to stop garbage from entering the river.
1/3^rd of towns have solid waste floating on the river surface.

Source : The Hindu