Action plan for Ganga basin not enough: CPCB

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has warned that plans for treatment of domestic sewage in the Ganga basin are not enough to clean...

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The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has warned that plans for treatment of domestic sewage in the Ganga basin are not enough to clean the river.

In a report, the CPCB says treatment facilities for 48 towns along the river and 23 towns in its tributaries are being created under the Ganga Action Plan Phase-II but it will only help fractionally. ‘‘It is expected that after completion of these plans, an additional capacity of 1,500 million litres per day (MLD) (for treatment) will be created…. still there will be a large gap between waste water generation and treatment capacity,’’ the study said.

The study says that steps need to be taken for urban waste water management and that treatment capacity hasn’t kept pace with the increasing sewage output.

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There are 23 towns generating sewage into the Ganga basin. These towns generate 8,250 MLD of waste water, out of which about 2,460 MLD is directly discharged into the Ganga. While 4,570 MLD is discharged into the Ganga’s tributaries, 1,220 MLD is disposed of on land or low-lying areas. And treatment facilities are available for only 3,500 MLD of waste water.

In the last three decades, there has been a three-fold increase in domestic sewage. ‘‘This is a major cause of concern. Domestic waste management is with the municipalities but they are having a problem of scarcity of resources. While state pollution control boards focus on industrial waste, a similar exercise is not done for domestic waste,’’ said Dr R C Trivedi, one of the authors.

The study notes that though industrial waste is targeted, domestic waste water poses a bigger problem. According to CPCB figures, 22,900 MLD of domestic waste water is generated from urban centres against 13,500 MLD of industrial water. The treatment capacity for domestic waste water is only for 5,900 MLD as against 8,000 MLD of industrial water.

The report says there is a gap of treatment of about 5,500 MLD of industrial wastewater.

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‘‘The generation is still very large. Sewage is so much in the country …It’s very wide…. We can’t do anything about it,’’ said Dr Trivedi.