Sewage overload

Ganga remains polluted despite cleanliness drives

- VIVEK MISHRA

ON FEBRUARY 13, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Vishweshwar Tudu told Parliament that the Namami Gange Programme has been able to reduce pollution load in the Ganga river. Since 2014, the Centre had taken up 409 projects with a budget outlay of ₹32,912.40 crore to clean up the river, he added.

Still, at least 71 per cent of the river's monitoring stations reported alarming levels of faecal coliform in January 2023. The actual share is most likely higher, as the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) tested samples from only 59 of the 97 stations, or just 61 per cent of the river in January (see 'Dirty still' p26-27).

Faecal coliforms are a group of bacteria found in the gut and faeces of warm-blooded animals. Their presence indicates that the water has been contaminated with the faecal material of humans or other animals, which enters rivers through discharge of untreated sewage.

While Uttarakhand had permissible levels of faecal coliform at all 12 tested stations, numbers in three other states Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal-are alarming. No samples were collected from Jharkhand. Bihar and West Bengal had unhealthy levels of faecal coliform at all 37 monitoring stations. In Uttar Pradesh, five of the 10 monitored stations had high levels of pollution, shows data accessed by Down To Earth (DTE) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Of the 42 polluted stations, 34 had faecal coliform over 11,000 most probable number (MPN) per 100 ml, which is four times the permissible limit (less than 2,500 MPN per 100 ml). Seven stations, all in Bihar, had 92,000 MPN per 100 ml, nearly 37 times the permissible limit.