Lok Sabha Question No. 3204 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-12
Subject: Flow of Polluted Water into Rivers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Sumedhanand Saraswati, Devji Mansingram Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3204

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.07.2019

## Flow of Polluted Water into Rivers

## 3204. SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI: SHRI DEVJI M. PATEL:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware that contaminated and polluted water is being fed into the main rivers;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the effort being made by the Government to deal with the situation;
- (c) whether the pollution is effectively controlled by the industrial units across the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the number of industrial units identified for non-compliance of pollution norms during last three years along with the action taken against these units?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a) & (b) Rivers and water bodies in the country are polluted due to discharge of untreated sewage,  industrial  effluent,  agricultural  runoff  etc.    The  Central  Pollution  Control  Board (CPCB)  along with State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) is monitoring the water quality of both surface and ground water under the  National  Water  Monitoring  Programme  (NWMP)  through  a  network  of  monitoring stations across  the country. The water quality is assessed for various parameters, including physico-chemical,  bacteriological,  heavy  metals,  pesticides,  etc.CPCB  has  identified  351 polluted  river  stretches  in  the  Country  based  on  the  water  quality  monitoring  in  the  years 2016  and  2017.  Also,  during  year  2015,  CPCB  had  carried  out  a  survey  on  the  sewage generation and treatment    capacity available in Class - I and Class - II towns of the country. It was estimated that around 61,948 Million Litres per day (MLD) sewage is being generated from these towns against which total sewage treatment capacity available was 23,277 MLD (37%).

The Government has taken various initiatives to check water pollution which 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;  creation  of  sewage  treatment  capacity  of  2522.03  mld (million  litres  per  day)  under  the  National  River  Conservation  Plan;  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. Sewage treatment capacity of 2522.03 mld (million litres per day) has been created so far under the NRCP.

(c ) to (e ) CPCB is monitoring and inspecting industrial units based on alerts generated from Online Continuous Effluent/ Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS) and taking appropriate action against non-complying industries as per the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

During 2016-17, CPCB has started a scheme of inspection of 17 categories of highly polluting  industries  based  on  the  computer  generated  alerts.  Industries  for  inspection  are selected  on  the  basis  of  Short  Message  Service  (SMS)  alerts  generated  from  the  online monitoring systems. A total of 592 industries have been inspected till 14.06.2019 and 347 directions issued under Section 5 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to non-complying industries and 1 direction issued under Section 18(1)(b) of the Air and Water Acts to State Pollution Control Board.

Further, CPCB has identified a total of 2743Grossly Polluting Industriesdischarging effluent into water bodies. Out of these, 2497 industries are operational and 246 industries are self-closed. Number of complying and non-complying units are 2222 and 275, respectively.

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