‘Health of River Ganga improves’
   Date :03-Apr-2020

River Ganga_1  
 
 
By Uzmi Athar :
 
NEW DELHI,
 
THE health of Ganga River has seen significant improvement since enforcement of the nationwide lockdown that has led to reduction in dumping of industrial waste into it, experts have said. India has been placed under a three-week lockdown since March 24 with its 1.3 billion people instructed to stay home in view of the coronavirus outbreak, which has claimed 50 lives so far and infected over 1,965 people in the country. The Ganga river water was found to be suitable for bathing at most monitoring centres, the Central Pollution Control Board data showed.
 
According to the real time water monitoring data of the CPCB, out of the 36 monitoring units placed at various points of the Ganga river, the water quality around 27 points was suitable for bathing and propagation of wildlife and fisheries. The parameters that the monitoring stations monitor online are dissolved oxygen (more than 6 mg/litre), biochemical oxygen demand (less than 2 mg/litre), total coliform levels (5000 per 100 ml) and pH (range between 6.5 and 8.5) to assess the health of the river.
 
Earlier, other than stretches in Uttarakhand and a couple of places as the river enters Uttar Pradesh, the river water was found to be unfit for bathing the whole way till it drains into the Bay of Bengal in West Bengal. Experts said the water quality of Ganga river has improved since the enforcement of the lockdown, especially around the industrial clusters.
 
Environmentalist Manoj Misra said it is a very good time for the CPCB to study the level of pollution coming from the industry. “The improvement that is visible needs to be validated with proper data. It is very good time for CPCB to study the level of pollution coming from the industry. It is a very good time to set up a baseline,” he said.