Ganga water contamination exceeds permissible limit

NEW DELHI: Bacterial contamination in the Ganges has exceeded the maximum permissible limit at a number of locations even as 80 per cent of pollution in the river is due to discharge of sewage, the government said today.

"...the levels of bacterial contamination in terms of fecal coliform are reported to be exceeding the maximum permissible limit at a number of locations," environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan in Rajya Sabha said during Question Hour.

She, however, said the water quality in terms of BOD (Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand) values is reported to have improved as compared to the pre-Ganga Action Plan (GAP) water quality on major monitoring locations.

The government is implementing GAP since 1985 for undertaking pollution abatement activities in the identified polluted stretches of the river through implementation of works like interception and diversion of sewage and setting up sewage treatment plants.

Replying to another question, the minister said about 20 per cent pollution in the river is because of industrial effluent and the rest is due of sewage.

Seeking cooperation from urban local bodies for cleaning the river, the minister said there is a World Bank-assisted project for the purpose and money was not a problem.

The project involving an estimated cost of Rs 7,000 crore has been approved under National Ganga River Basin Authority. Rs 1,441 crore has been released towards implementation of various pollution abatement works in towns along Ganga and sewage treatment capacity of 1,091 million litres per day has been created.