Government to set up network of monitoring stations along Ganga

NEW DELHI: The government has sanctioned a project for the setting up of a network of 113 real-time water quality monitoring stations at critical locations along the Ganga river, Rajya Sabha was informed today.

In a written reply, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati told the Upper House that the project has been sanctioned for the Central Pollution Control Board.

She also stressed at the same time that the National Ganga River Basin Authority has resolved that no untreated municipal sewage or industrial effluent will be discharged into the river by 2020.

The minister said that the locations of the monitoring stations would include upstream and downstream areas of major urban settlements, major tributaries upstream of the confluence of sewerage treatment plants in major drains, downstreams of industrial areas at intakes of drinking water treatment plants and important bathing ghats.

Responding to another question, Bharati said that under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, there was a comprehensive plan based on all available information on water sources, distribution network, water bodies, new potential for augmentation and efficient management systems.