Lok Sabha Question No. 2288 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-29
Subject: Pollutants in River Systems
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shrirang Appa Barne, SHIVAJI ADHALRAO PATIL, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2288

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2016

Pollutants in River Systems

2288.  SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI ADHALRAO PATIL SHIVAJIRAO: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a)    whether  surface  water  forms  a  major  drinking  water  source  for  human  and  other organisms;
- (b)    if  so,  whether  there  is  no  active  system  for  monitoring  the  water  quality  in  the riverine systems;
- (c)  if so, the response of the Government thereto;
- (d)  whether  scientists  from  multiple  institutes  have  conducted  human  health  risk assessment caused by dissolved trace elements in river systems;
- (e)  if so, the results thereof; and
- (f)  the steps taken by the Government to make all the rivers in the country free from all kinds of pollutants?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ANIL MADHAV DAVE)

(a) to (c) Surface  water  along  with  ground  water  forms  a  major  drinking  water source for human and other organisms.

The Central Pollution  Control Board  (CPCB)  along  with  State  Pollution  Control Boards  (SPCBs)  is  monitoring  the  river  water  quality  across  the  country  through  a network  of  1275  monitoring  stations  on  various  rivers  under  National  Water  Quality Monitoring  Programme  (NWQMP).  As  per  the  report  published  by  Central  Pollution Control  Board  (CPCB)  in  February  2015,  302  polluted  river  stretches  have  been identified  on  275  rivers  based  on  Bio-chemical  Oxygen  Demand  (BOD)  levels,  a  key indicator of organic pollution

- (d)  and  (e)    CPCB  has  informed  that  they  have  not  conducted  any  study  on  human health risk assessment due to dissolved trace elements  in the identified  polluted river stretches.

(f) The  Ministry  has  been  supplementing  the  efforts  of  the  State  Governments  in abatement of pollution in identified stretches of various rivers under the programmes of National  River  Conservation  Plan  (NRCP)  and  NGRBA  (National  Ganga  River  Basin Authority)  for  implementation  of  projects  on  cost  sharing  basis  between  Central  and State Governments. The NGRBA programme along with work of Ganga & its tributaries has  been  transferred  to  Ministry  of  Water  Resources,  River  Development  &  Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR) from 01/08/2014 onwards. NRCP (excluding Ganga and its  tributaries)  has  covered polluted stretches of 31 rivers in 75 towns spread over 14 States  at  a  sanctioned  cost  of  Rs.  4517.82  crore.  So  far,  an  amount  of  Rs.  2056.58 crore  has  been  released  to  the  State  Governments  for  implementation  of  various pollution abatement works and sewage treatment capacity of 2373 million litres per day (mld) has been created under the NRCP programme (excluding Ganga & its tributaries).

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)  programme  of  Ministry  of  Urban  Development  and  the Namami Gange programme (under NGRBA) of MoWR,RD&GR.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)  has  issued directions under Section 18 1(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 in April, 2015 to the State  Pollution  Control  Board/Pollution  Control  Committees  regarding  setting  up  of sewage treatment plants and utilization of sewage generated in their respective States. CPCB  has  also  issued  directions  in  October,  2015  to  69  municipal  authorities  of metropolitan cities and state capitals under Section 5 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for proper treatment and disposal of sewage generated in their jurisdiction.

To control discharge of industrial effluents, 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.

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