Centre for Science and Environment insists on river pollution control

PUNE: New Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has stated that reinventing the strategy for river pollution control must be on the top government's environment agenda. It has insisted a need to aggressively implement the national sanitation programme –make it a top governmental priority.

In a recent press statement the CSE has stated that it has released ' Environment and Development Agenda' for the newly elected NDA government at the Centre. This agenda is based on years of research by CSE on key environmental challenges.

One section of the agenda is devoted to river improvement. " Every river in India is like the Ganga – either dying or already dead—as cities take water from them and return sewage, and industries discharge effluents into them.

The strategy of river cleaning by building sewage treatment plants has proved to be inadequate" states the CSE.

The group has added that the government needs to make ecological flow mandatory in all stretches of a river and accept that urban areas cannot build conventional sewage networks at a required pace.

" Ensure treated effluent is reused or discharged directly into rivers for dilution and go for affordable water and sanitation solutions. Design a garbage disposal system to segregate waste and make a resource out of it. Learn that controlling industrial pollution demands effective enforcement of laws and appropriate technologies for small-scale industries" states the CSE press release.