Seminar 1

Quantification of River Pollution & Measures for rectification of River Pollution : An Overview of Ganga Action Plan
Presented by : Manish Kumar Singh Sweta Ojha

WHAT IS RIVER POLLUTION?

Contamination of water by unwanted material. Occurs when pollutants are discharged from the source of pollution into an area of uncontaminated water.

http://spacesavesociety.org/waterpollution1.bmp

RIVER POLLUTION

SOURCES OF RIVER POLLUTION

Point source pollution Non-point source pollution

GANGA ACTION PLAN (GAP)

 Runs 2500 kms from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar in the Bay of Bengal.

29 cities with population over 1,00,000 (class-I cities)

23 cities with population between 50,000 and 1,00,000 (class-II cities)

Concept in December 1984 By Environment department action plan for immediate reduction of pollution load on the river Ganga. The Cabinet approved the GAP in April 1985 as a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme.

 envisaged to intercept, divert and treat 882 mld out of 1340 mld of wastewater, Estimating Pollutant generated in 25 class-I towns in 3 States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

scheduled the GAP-I for completion by March 1990 by NRCD

While the GAP-I was still in progress, the CGA(Controller General of Accounts) decided in February 1991 to take up the GAP-II

GAP II
approved GAP-II in various stages during April 1993 to October 1996 . The States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi and Haryana were to implement the GAP-II by treating 1912 mld of sewage. GAP-II is scheduled for completion by December 2001.

Organizational structure

Financial profile
Approved outlays

GAP-I- Rs 462.04 crore GAP-II Rs 1276.25 crore

The Central Government was to bear the entire expenditure on schemes under the GAP-I, and to share it equally with the States in the GAP-II.

The Government of India decided to bear the entire expenditure on schemes from April 1997, as the States found it difficult to provide their matching share.

QUANTIFICATION

Estimates of sewage generation

GAP-I:sewage estimation was 80 per cent of water supplied.

Later, actual flow of drains at the outfalls in the GAP-II. The NRCD also had no mechanism to evaluate and check the estimations of sewage by the States. For that Test audit and observations on estimations of sewage was done in states.

Definitions
Load = (weight of pollutant)/C-S AREA/TIME Flux = the instantaneous rate at which the load is passing a point e.g., a sampling station Discharge = the (volume of water )/C-S AREA/TIME Flow = the instantaneous rate at which water is passing the reference point

However, cannot measure flux directly, so calculate load as product of concentration and flow:

Because we almost always measure concentration in a series of discrete samples, estimation of load becomes sum of a set of products of flow and concentration:

PROBLEM
The central problem becomes how best to set up the discrete samples to give the most accurate estimate of load. how many samples and when to take them

 Total load is the load over the main period of interest individual calculations of load as product of concentration and flow over a smaller, more homogeneous time span should be done. The central problem is to accurate characterize all the unit loads; adding them up to the total load.

Material Flow Analysis

Good method for systematic evaluation of flow of material.

Determination of different type of load

Determination of main source of pollution

Applicable for both large and small river network

Database should include the results of water quality analysis, field observations ,maps and geographical coordinates and hydrology.

Analysis should include: water quality spatial analysis and hydrologic analyses

analysis,

]MFA should include an analysis of all systems, deficiencies in the data, necessary measures which should be conducted on the basis of the analysis

Practical load estimation

Ideally, most accurate approach to load estimation is to sample very frequently and capture all the variability.
Flow is relatively straightforward to measure continuously Concentration is expensive to measure and in most cases impossible to measure continuously. Must choose a sampling interval to give an appropriate characterization of concentration component.

Practical load estimation(cont)

Grab samples represent concentration at a single point in time

Fixed-interval samples poorly suited for load estimation because they ignore changes in flow that occur between samples and are usually biased toward low flows Flow-proportional samples - ideally suited for load estimation, can provide a precise and accurate load estimate if the entire time interval is properly sampled.

Water Quality Monitoring under the GAP

The Steering Committee decided in December 1986 to bring the water quality of river to bathing levels, which were as follows:

Dissolved Oxygen Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand Bacterial load (Coliform Count)

Not less than 5 mg/l Not more than 3 mg/l Not more than 10000 per 100 ml

Industrial pollution
discharge of industrial effluents into the rivers not fit for use. industrial waste was not included in the Action Plan

Necessary steps to check industrial pollution.

compliance to environmental law installation of ETPs by the grossly polluting units.

RECTIFICATION

Primary Treatment
Screening
Primary sedimentation Sedimentation aided coagulation

Activated sludge
Surface-aerated basins

Biological aerated filters

Secondary sedimentation

Rotating biological contactors

Disinfection
Sludge drying bed

Increasing dissolved oxygen contain

aeration

o Prevention is better than Cure o Treating Sewage Before discharging into rivers o Increasing DO content of the sewage o Increasing Public Awareness o Treatment of pathological bacteria before disposal of sewage

o Afforestation
oThe disposal point should be in upstream direction