Ganga river pollution - 2008-09 Report

Most ancient civilizations grew along the banks of rivers. Even today, millions of people all over
the world live on the banks of rivers and depend on them for their survival.

All of us have seen a river – large or small, either flowing through our town, or somewhere else.
Rivers are nothing more than surface water flowing down from a higher altitude to a lower
altitude due to the pull of gravity. One river might have its source in a glacier, another in a spring
or a lake. Rivers carry dissolved minerals, organic compounds, small grains of sand, gravel, and
other material as they flow downstream. Rivers begin as small streams, which grow wider as
smaller streams and rivers join them along their course across the land. Eventually they flow into
seas or oceans. Unfortunately most of the world’s major rivers are heavily polluted.The pollution
of environment is the ´gift´ of the industrial revolution. Prior to this the agrarian cultures created

Drainage in Ganga at Varanasi

significant environmental deterioration in the form of soil erosion- through deforestation and
overgrazing. The environmental degradation is a by product of modern civilization.There has
been a steady deterioration in the quality of water of Indian rivers over several decades. India´s
fourteen major, 55 minor and several hundred small rivers receive millions of litres of sewage,
industrial and agricultural wastes. Most of these rivers have been rendered to the level of sewage
flowing drains. There are serious water quality problems in the cities, towns and villages using
these waters. Water borne diseases are rampant, fisheries are on decline, and even cattle are not
spared from the onslaught of pollution.According to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) five
rivers in Asia serving over 870 million people are among the most threatened in the world, as
dams, water extraction and climate change all take their toll.The Ganges, Indus, Yangtze,
Salween-Nu and Mekong-Lancang rivers make up half of the WWF´s “top ten” most threatened
river basins.

River Ganga (Ganges) of India has been held in high esteem since time immemorial and Hindus
from all over the world cherish the idea of a holy dip in the river under the faith that by doing so
they will get rid of their sins of life. More than 400 million people live along the Ganges River.
An estimated 2,000,000 persons ritually bathe daily in the river. Historically also, Ganga is the
most important river of the country and beyond doubt is closely connected with the history of
civilization as can be noticed from the location of the ancient cities of Hardwar, Prayag, Kashi
and Patliputra at its bank. To millions of people it is sustainer of life through multitude of canal
system and irrigation of the wasting load. Hundreds of the villages and even the big cities depend
for their drinking water on this river. It is believed, a fact which has also been observed, that the
water of Ganga never decays even for months and years when water of other rivers and agencies
begins to develop bacteria and fungi within a couple of days. This self purification characteristics
of Ganga is the key to the holiness and sanctity of its water. The combination of bacteriophages
and large populations of people bathing in the river have apparently produced a self-purification
effect, in which water-borne bacteria such as dysentery and cholera are killed off, preventing
large-scale epidemics. The river also has an unusual ability to retain dissolved oxygen.

Drainage in Ganga at Kanpur

With growing civilization and population all over how long Ganga will retain its self purification
characteristics only time can judge.

River Source:

The Gangotri Glacier, a vast expanse of ice five miles by fifteen, at the foothills of the
Himalayas (14000 ft) in North Uttar Pradesh is the source of Bhagirathi, which joins with
Alaknanda (origins nearby) to form Ganga at the craggy canyon-carved town of Devprayag.
Interestingly, the sources of Indus and the Brahmaputra are also geographically fairly close; the
former goes through Himachal Pradesh and fans out through Punjab and Sind (Pakistan) into the
Arabian Sea. The latter courses for most of its tremendous length under various names through
Tibet/China, never far from the Nepal or Indian borders, and then takes a sharp turn near the
northeastern tip of India, gathers momentum through Assam before joining the major stream of
the Ganga near Dacca in Bangladesh to become the mighty Padma, river of joy and sorrow for
much of Bangladesh. From Devprayag to the Bay of Bengal and the vast Sunderbans delta, the
Ganga flows some 1550 miles, passing (and giving life to) some of the most populous cities of
India, including Kanpur (2 million), Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, and Calcutta (14 million).

The largest tributary to the Ganga is the Ghaghara, which meets it before Patna, in Bihar, bearing
much of the Himalayan glacier melt from Northern Nepal. The Gandak, which comes from near
Katmandu, is another big Himalayan tributary. Other important rivers that merge with the Ganga
are the Son, which originates in the hills of Madhya Pradesh, the Gomti which flows past
Lucknow.

Previous Work:

A number of investigations have been carried out on the physiochemical and biological
characters of the Ganga. Lakshminarayana (1965) published a series of papers reporting the
results of studies carried out at Varanasi during the period between March, 1957 and March,
1958. it was observed by him that the values of the most of the parameters decreased during
rainy season while no marked variation was observed during winters and summers.

In the same year Chakraborty et.al. (1965) from Kanpur reported the water quality of Ganga at
J.K. Rayon´s water intake point and at Golaghat and Bhairoghat pumping stations situated at the
upstream of the river. It was concluded that the water quality gradually deteriorated as it passes
from Bhairoghat pumping station to the J.K. Rayon water intake point in summers because in
this stretch the river received waste waters from number of sewage drains.

A year later Saxena et.al. (1966) made a systematic survey of the chemical quantity of Ganga at
Kanpur. According to the study, the biological oxygen demand, i.e. B.O.D. varied from 5.3ppm
(minimum) in winter to 16.0ppm (maximum) in summer. The chloride ranged between 9.2 and
12.7 ppm and the river was found to be alkaline in nature except in rainy season. He concluded
that the tanneries significantly increased the pollution load of river as they discharge huge
amounts of effluents containing organic wastes and heavy metals. It was further reported that
forty five tanneries, ten textile mills and several other industrial units discharged 37.15 million
gallon per day of waste water generating BOD load of approximately 61630 Kg/day.

Subsequently Agarwal et.al.(1976) studied the bacteriological population of the river water and
concluded that

Drainage in Ganga at Bellurmath, Kolkata

addition of untreated waste and sewage was responsible for the presence of pathogenic
organisms posing threat to the residents of the Varanasi city.

Hydrobiological features of the river Ganga was studied by Pahwa and Mehrotra (1966). The
authors studied a stretch of 1090 kms. of river Ganga extending from Kanpur in west to
Rajmahal, in Jharkhand state, in the east. They reported that the turbidity was maximum (1100-
2170 ppm) in monsoon and minimum ( less than100 ppm) during January to June. The pH of the
river water ranged between 7.45 (minimum) during June to August and 8.30 (maximum) during
January to May. The dissolved oxygen, i.e. D.O. count ranged from 5.0 to 10.5 ppm with
maximum values during January and February. While the minimum values were recorded in
monsoon.

Bhargava (1982) in a survey of total length of the river Ganga found that quality index was far
above the prescribed limit at Kanpur. He further found that the Ganga water was having
unusually fast regenerating capacity by bringing down B.O.D. owing to the presence of large
amount of well adopted micro-organisms. According to the research Ganga is rich in polymers
excreted by various species of bacteria. These polymers being excellent coagulants remove
turbidity by coagulation, setting the suspended particles at the sewage discharge point.

At the 1981 session of Indian Science Congress at Varanasi, scientists expressed concern at the
growing pollution in the river Ganga in presence of the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi
who inaugurated the session. At her instance, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the then member, Planning
Commission asked the Central Board for Preventation and Control of Water Pollution, New
Delhi to conduct studies on the state of the river Ganga. In collaboration with the State Pollution
Control Boards of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal and the centre for study of Man and
Environment Kolkata (Calcutta), studies were conducted on the ´Sources´ of pollution including
all human activities, land use pattern and water quality of the river at selected sites during 1981-
82 and report entitled “Basin, sub-basin inventory of water pollution in the Ganga basin part-II”
was published in 1984. according to this report sewage of 27 class I cities and towns and
effluents from 137 major industries were the main source of pollution of the river. In addition
cremation of dead human bodies and dumping of carcasses aggrevated the pollution of the river.

It was Chandra (1981) who conducted studies on the pollution status of river Ganga at
Allahabad, pointed out that industries manufacturing nitrogenous fertilizers have significant role
in polluting the river water.

Study carried out in 1986-87 on physico-chemical properties of river Ganga water at Buxar
(Unnao) clearly revealed that extent of pollution varied in different seasons. Usually all the 23
parameters studied showed high values in summer and lower during monsoons except turbidity
which was high in rainy season. Values of BOD, COD, DO and H2S were recorded high than the
tolerance limits. Study on water quality of river Ganga at Kalakankar (Pratapgarh in Uttar
Pradesh) revealed that even at such a remote and undisturbed place like Kalakankar the river
water was not safe for drinking and bathing. It was also noted that the river showed an alkaline
trend throughout the course of study.

According to the research done by Mehrotra (1990), the various sources responsible for pollution
of the river in Varanasi city are domestic sewage effluents of the industries, burning of dead
bodies at the ghats, use of detergents, insecticides and pesticides used in agriculture. Study
revealed the presence of toxic metals like mercury ( 65 to 520ppb), Lead( less than 10 to 800
ppm), chromium (less than 10 to 200 ppm) and nickel (less than 10 to 130 ppm) in the sediments
of Ganga river at Varanasi city.
 Durga Immersion at Babughat, Kolkata

Upstream from Varanasi, one of the major pilgrimage sites along the river, the water is
comparatively pure, having a low Biochemical oxygen demand and fecal coliform count. Studies
conducted in 1983 on water samples taken from the right bank of the Ganga at Patna confirm
that escheria coli (E.Coli.), fecal streptococci and vibrio cholerae organisms die two to three
times faster in the Ganga than in water taken from the rivers Son and Gandak and from dug wells
and tube wells in the same area.The chemical pollution of the river Ganga in Patna city in Bihar
state has been found somewhat alarming beside the storm drain, especially in the regions like
Rajapur, Mandiri and Krishnaghat.

According to the report published in a book by Mr. U.K. Sinha (1986), the concentration of iron
is higher in sediments collected from 10 metres along the bank at Mandiri region. The
concentration of all the toxic metals i.e copper, zinc, nickel and cobalt are higher in all the
sediments collected from near the storm drain and diminishes towards mid-region of the river.
The concentration of zinc is highest in the sediments collected from near the Mandiri storm
drain, Antaghat storm drain and Krishnaghat storm drain.The concentration of copper is highest
in the sediments collected from near the Krishnaghat storm drain suggesting the presence copper
due to utensil work being done in Thatheri Bazar and hospital wastes also, said report.

Present situation:

For some time now, this romantic view of the Ganges has collided with India’s grim realities.
During the past three decades, the country’s explosive growth (at nearly 1.2 billion people,
India’s population is second only to China’s), industrialization and rapid urbanization have put
unyielding pressure on the sacred stream.Ganga, the most sacred of rivers for Hindus, has
become polluted for some years now. But a recent study by Uttarakhand Environment
Conservation and Pollution Control Board says that the level of pollution in the holy river has
reached alarming proportions.Things have come to such a pass that the Ganga water is at present
not fit just for drinking and bathing but has become unusable even for agricultural purposes.As
per the UECPCB study, while the level of coliform present in water should be below 50 for
drinking purposes, less than 500 for bathing and below 5000 for agricultural use—the present
level of coliform in Ganga at Haridwar has reached 5500.
Based on the level of coliform, dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen, the study put the
water in A, B, C and D categories. While A category is considered fit for drinking, B for bathing,
C for agriculture and D is for excessive pollution level.

Since the Ganga waters at Haridwar have more than 5000 coliform and even the level of
dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen doesn’t conform the prescribed standards, it has been
put in the D category.

According to the study, the main cause of high level of coliform in Ganga is due to disposal of
human faeces, urine and sewage directly into the river from its starting point in Gaumukh till it
reaches Haridwar via Rishikesh.

Nearly 89 million litres of sewage is daily disposed into Ganga from the 12 municipal towns that
fall along its route till Haridwar. The amount of sewage disposed into the river increases during
the Char Dham Yatra season when nearly 15 lakh pilgrims visit the state between May and
October each year.

Apart from sewage disposal of half-burnt human bodies at Haridwar and hazardous medical
waste from the base hospital at Srinagar due to absence of an incinerator are also adding to
pollution levels in the Ganga.

The result has been the gradual killing of one of India’s most treasured resources. One stretch of
the Yamuna River, the Ganges’ main tributary, has been devoid of all aquatic creatures for at
least a decade.In Varanasi, India’s most sacred city, the coliform bacterial count is at least 3,000
times higher than the standard established as safe by the United Nations world Health
Organization. Coliform are rod-shaped bacteria that are normally found in the colons of humans
and animals and become a serious contaminant when found in the food or water supply.A study
by Environmental Biology Laboratory, Department pf Zoology, Patna University, showed the
presence of mercury in the Ganga river in Varanasi city. According to the study, annual mean
concentration of mercury in the river water was 0.00023 ppm. The concentration ranged from
NT (not traceable) to 0.00191 ppm.

Study done by Indian Toxicological Research Centre (ITRC), Lucknow during 1986-1992
showed maximum annual concentration of mercury in the Ganga river water at Rishikesh,
Allahabad district and Dakshineswar as 0.081, 0.043 and 0.012 ppb respectively.

Ganga river at Varanasi was found well within the maximum permissible standard of 0.001 ppm
prescribed for drinking water by the World Health Organization.

The mercury studied in the Ganga river could be traced in biotic as well as abiotic components of
the river at the study site. The Hindu devotees take bath in the river where mercury was detected
in 28%, 44%,75%, 96%, 42% and 89% of the river water, sediment, benthic fauna, fish, soil and
vegetation samples respectively.
Though mercury contamination of the river water has not reached an alarming extent, its
presence in the river system is worrisome. In the study annual mean concentration of the metal in
the sediments was 0.067 ppm. Sediments constitute a major pool of mercury in fresh water.

As Ganga enters the Varanasi city, Hinduism´s sacred river contains 60,000 faecal coliform
bacteria per 100 millilitres, 120 times more than is considered safe for bathing. Four miles
downstream, with inputs from 24 gushing sewers and 60,000 pilgrim-bathers, the concentration
is 3,000 times over the safety limit. In places, the Ganges becomes black and septic. Corpses, of
semi-cremated adults or enshrouded babies, drift slowly by.

The tannery industry mushrooming in North India has converted the Ganga River into a dumping
ground. The tanning industry discharges different types of waste into the environment, primarily
in the form of liquid effluents containing organic matters, chromium, sulphide ammonium and
other salts. As per an estimate, about 80-90% of the tanneries use chromium as a tanning agent.
Of this, the hides take up only 50-70%, while the rest is discharged as effluent. Pollution
becomes acute when tanneries are concentrated in clusters in small area like Kanpur.
Consequently, the Leather-tanning sector is included in the Red category of industries due to the
potential adverse environmental impact caused by tannery wastes.

Highly polluted sediments are adversely affecting the ecological functioning of rivers due to
heavy metal mobilization from urban areas into biosphere. Distribution of heavy metals in
sediments of the river Ganga and its tributaries have been carried out by several workers.
Monitoring of Ganga River from Rishikesh to Varanasi indicated that Kannauj to Kanpur and
Varanasi are the most polluted stretches of the river Ganga . Analysis of upstream and down
stream water and sediment revealed a 10-fold increase in chromium level.