Untreated sewage, industrial effluents, open defecation pollute rivers in India: minister

NEW DELHI, July 25 (Xinhua) — The main causes of pollution of rivers in India were the discharge of untreated and partially treated sewage from cities and towns and industrial effluents in their respective catchments, said the country’s junior Minister for Water Resources Raj Bhushan Choudhary on Thursday.
In a written reply to a question raised in the parliament’s lower house Lok Sabha, the minister said that open defecation, poor operation and maintenance of sewage and effluent treatment plants, lack of dilution and nonpoint sources of pollution like agricultural runoff, the runoff from solid waste dump sites were other major sources of river pollution in the country.
Citing challenges associated with the cleaning of rivers, he said the sheer volume and weight of sediment accumulated, ecosystem disruption during de-siltation, remote location of dams, expensive and demanding technology, and regulatory and legal issues usually hampered the cleaning of rivers in the country.
He said that it was the primary responsibility of states, urban local bodies and industrial units to ensure the required treatment of sewage and industrial effluent before discharging into rivers.
According to the minister, the federal government has carried out various initiatives and programs, such as the “Namami Gange” for cleaning the Ganges River and its tributaries, and the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for other rivers.
The NRCP has so far covered 53 rivers in 98 towns spreading over 17 states in the country with a sanctioned cost of around 86.50 billion Indian rupees (around 1.032 billion U.S. dollars), thus creating a sewage treatment capacity of 2.91 billion liters per day. ■