This damages the plant. Worse, it pollutes the river. Moreover, some amount of untreated domestic sewage comes through storm-water drains. The river, which caters to the drinking water needs of over 3.5 million people in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and nearby villages, has innumerable illegal drainage connections, installed either by industries situated in its periphery or even by the AMC and local municipalities. In 1995, the high court ordered factory owners to clean up their act.
People living on the river s banks constantly complain of getting contaminated water.
Add to this, many, living in the areas like the Gulbai Tekra, Paldi and Shahwadi Gram Panchayat, face a serious drinking water shortage. According to pollution-control norms, domestic sewage as well as industrial waste should not be released into a river without proper treatment. A senior government official acknowledges that the AMC has played a major part in polluting the river. Of the problems, seems to be the inefficiency of the pumping stations at Jamalpur, Behrampura, Maninagar and Sabarmati, clearly, they are adequate to tackle the quantity of sewage received. The haphazard growth of urban pockets has not helped.