Lockdown effect: 50% improvement in River Ganga pollution reduction
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, April 4, 2020: Dr PK Mishra, Professor at Chemical Engineering&Technology, IIT-BHU, Varanasi, said that 1/10th of the pollution in Ganga river comes from industries, as industries are shut due to lockdown, the situation has become better. There is a 40-50% improvement in Ganga, it’s a significant development.
The climate of the country is changing due to the lockdown implemented to prevent coronavirus infection. There has been a significant reduction in all types of pollution in India. The air quality of 91 cities has been in good and satisfactory category till March 29.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, the water of the holy Ganga river has also started to become clean due to the lockdown. These days its pollution is decreasing. There is a reduction of industrial waste dumping in the river. Ganga water has been found suitable for bathing in most monitoring centres.
Reduction in pollution due to shutdown of work in industrial units
According to the latest report of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the level of pollution in the country has come down significantly due to traffic restrictions and the shutdown of operations in industrial units. Ganga is becoming very healthy due to lockdown because industrial waste is not being dumped these days. In real-time water monitoring, the water of the Ganges river has been found suitable for bathing in 27 out of 36 monitoring centres.
Significant improvement in Ganga water was observed at various places including Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh. On the online scale of monitoring stations, the amount of oxygen dissolved in water has exceeded 6 mg per litre, biochemical oxygen demand 2 mg per litre and total coliform level have been increased to 5000 per 100 mL. Also, the pH level is between 6.5 and 8.5, indicating good health of water quality in the Ganges river.
According to CPCB’s real-time water monitoring data, water quality has been found suitable for wildlife and fish at around 27 out of its 36 monitoring units. Earlier, when the water of the Ganga river was monitored, some of the entry points from Uttarakhand to Uttar Pradesh, till the Bay of Bengal, was not suitable for bathing the river water all the way.
Very clean water around Kanpur
Experts believe that since the lockdown in the country, the water quality of the Ganges river has improved significantly. Environmentalist Vikrant Tonkad says that a lot of improvement is being seen in industrial areas, where large scale waste was dumped into the river.
He said that the water around Kanpur in the Ganga has become extremely clear. Apart from this, the water of the tributaries of the Ganga, Hadan and Yamuna, has also been cleared. Although the filth of domestic sewage is still going into the river. Despite this, the industrial waste has stopped falling completely. That is why water quality has improved.
He said that in the coming few days due to the lockdown, the Ganga water is expected to improve further.
River’s ability to keep itself clean increased
Environmentalist and Associate Coordinator of South Asia Network on Dam, River, People (SANDRP) Bhim Singh Rawat said that organic pollution still dissolves in river water. But chemical waste from industrial units is a deadly type of pollution that kills the river’s ability to keep itself clean. Water quality has improved due to an improvement in the river’s ability to keep itself clean during the lockdown.
A full three-week lockdown is in force in India from March 25. People have been ordered to stay in their homes to protect the country’s 1.3 billion population from infection with Corona. The number of positive crossed 3000 today.
