Lok Sabha Question No. 436 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-05
Subject: Discharge of Waste into Rivers
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: P.R. Natarajan, Nihal Chand Chauhan

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 436 ANSWERED ON 05.02.2024

## Discharge of Waste into Rivers

## 436. SHRI NATARAJAN P.R.: SHRI NIHAL CHAND

Will the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the States of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have the maximum number of 'Priority-1' (Most Polluted) river stretches in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c)  whether the Government has made any assessment regarding the untreated dirty water and industrial waste flowing into the rivers of the country every year;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) whether any concrete steps have been taken by the Government to solve the said problem or any scheme is being worked out with the other Ministries related to water?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE

CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) & (b)  Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in year 2022 identified 311 Polluted River Stretches  (PRS)  on  279  rivers  in  30  States/  UTs  in  the  country  based  on  indicator  of  organic pollution i.e. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) (3mg/L), by analysis of water quality data of 603 rivers on 1920 locations for the years 2019 and 2021.

The polluted river stretches were distributed in five Priority classes based on the maximum BOD observed viz. 46 in Priority -I (˃30 mg/l), 16 in Priority-II (20-30 mg/l), 39 in Priority-III (10-20 mg/l), 65 in Priority-IV (6-10 mg/l) & 145 in Priority-V (3-6 mg/l). Out of 46 in Priority -I class, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh each have 6 Priority-I river stretches in the country. Detailed list of Priority-I river stretches in Gujarat & Uttar Pradesh is at Annexure- I .

(c ) & (d) CPCB has carried out inventorization of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) located in urban  centers  of  India  with  the  help  of  State  Pollution  Control  Boards/Pollution  Control

Committees and local bodies for quantities of sewage generation and its treatment  in the year 2020. The details of sewage management are as follow:

| Sewage Generation                                       | 72,368 MLD                     |
|---------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| Number of installed STPs                                | 1631 (including proposed STPs) |
| Number of Operational STPs                              | 1093                           |
| Installed Capacity                                      | 31,841 MLD                     |
| Total Treatment Capacity (including planned / proposed) | 36,668 MLD                     |
| Operational Treatment Capacity                          | 26,869 MLD                     |
| Actual Utilization (Treatment)                          | 20,235 MLD ( 27.96 %)          |

Further,  as  per  the  assessment  of    Grossly  Polluting  Industries  (GPIs)  3186  (Ganga-  1229; Yamuna-1957)  located  in  Ganga  and  Yamuna  belt  having  potential  to  discharge  into  river Ganga,  Yamuna  &  their  tributaries  in  seven  states  of  Uttar  Pradesh,  Uttarakhand,  Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana, the estimated discharge of effluent from GPIs is about  402.67  million  litres  per  day  (Ganga-  249.31  MLD;  Yamuna-  153.36  MLD)  having pollution  load  of  19.74  tonnes  per  day  (Ganga-  13.73  TPD;  Yamuna-  6.01  TPD)  in  terms  of BOD (Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand). Further, about 3558.5 MLD of sewage is generated from 105 ganga front towns located in five Ganga states namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand & West Bengal and to treat the same about  2561.7 MLD (about 72%) capacity of STPs has been setup.

(e)  For  rejuvenation  of  351  PRS  identified  by  CPCB  during  the  year 2018,  action  plans  were prepared by River Rejuvenation Committee  (RRC)  constituted by the respective State Government/  UT  Administration,  under  the  overall  supervision  and  coordination  of  Principal Secretary, Environment of the concerned State /Union Territory for bringing all the polluted river stretches  identified  by  CPCB  fit  for  bathing  purposes  (i.e.  BOD  ˂  3  mg/L  and  FC  ˂  500 MPN/100 mL).

Prepared  action  plans  covers  aspects  such  as  Source  control  (Municipal  sewage  management, Industrial pollution control, Waste management), River catchment/Basin Management (Adoption of good irrigation practices, Utilization of treated sewage, Ground water recharge aspects), Flood Plain  Zone  protection  and  its  management  (Setting  up  of  bio-diversity  parks,  Removal  of encroachments, Rain water harvesting, Plantation on both sides of the river), Ecological/Environmental Flow (E-Flow) and Watershed management.

Progress of implementation of action plans is regularly reviewed by the RRC at State Level and Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) at Central Level.

Apart from the above, the other measures taken by the government for prevention and control of water pollution are given below-

-  Government of India enacted the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and various provisions under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for protection of water  bodies  and  the  Central  &  State  Pollution  Control  Boards  are  implementing  the provisions of both acts to prevent and control pollution of aquatic resources.
-  SPCBs/PCCs  have  been  directed  under  Section  18(1)  (b)  of  the  Water  Act  to  direct concerned agencies in the State/UT to develop infrastructure for sewage treatment.
-  Government of India stipulated General discharge standards and industry specific effluent discharge standards under Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 with an aim to prevent pollution in the water bodies.

***

Annexure I

## List of Priority-I river stretches in Gujarat & Uttar Pradesh

|   S NO | STATE NAME    | RIVERNAME    | POLLUTED RIVER STRETCH/ LOCATION     |   MAXBOD OBSERVED | PRIORITY CLASS   |
|--------|---------------|--------------|--------------------------------------|-------------------|------------------|
|      1 | GUJARAT       | AMLAKHADI    | ALONG ANKLESHWAR                     |              49   | I                |
|      2 | GUJARAT       | BHADAR       | ALONG JETPUR                         |             258.6 | I                |
|      3 | GUJARAT       | DHADAR       | ALONG KOTHADA                        |              33   | I                |
|      4 | GUJARAT       | KHARI        | ALONG LALI VILLAGE                   |             195   | I                |
|      5 | GUJARAT       | SABARMATI    | RAYSAN TO VAUTHA                     |             292   | I                |
|      6 | GUJARAT       | VISHWAMITRI  | ALONG KHALIPUR VILLAGE               |              38   | I                |
|      7 | UTTAR PRADESH | BAHELA       | ALONG TANDA                          |             287   | I                |
|      8 | UTTAR PRADESH | HINDON       | SAHARANPUR TO GHAZIABAD              |             126   | I                |
|      9 | UTTAR PRADESH | KALI (W)     | ALONG MUZAFFAR NAGAR                 |              81   | I                |
|     10 | UTTAR PRADESH | KALINADI (E) | MEERUT TO KANNAUJ                    |             144   | I                |
|     11 | UTTAR PRADESH | VARUNA       | RAMESHWAR TO TILL COFL WITH R. GANGA |              32.4 | I                |
|     12 | UTTAR PRADESH | YAMUNA       | ALONG NOIDA, VRINDAVAN TO HAMIRPUR   |             127   | I                |