Water quality of the Ganga River – An overview.pdf - GANGAPEDIA

This article was downloaded by:
On: 3 February 2011
Access details: Access Details: Free Access
Publisher Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-
41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713393886
Water quality of the Ganga River - An overview
R. C. Trivedi a
a Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi, India
Online publication date: 08 December 2010
To cite this Article Trivedi, R. C.(2010) 'Water quality of the Ganga River - An overview', Aquatic Ecosystem Health &
Management, 13: 4, 347 — 351
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/14634988.2010.528740
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14634988.2010.528740
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE
Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf
This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or
systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or
distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents
will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses
should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,
actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly
or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

Downloaded At: 04:54 3 February 2011
Water quality of the Ganga River – An overview
R. C. Trivedi
Central Pollution Control Board, East Arjun Nagar, Delhi – 110 032, India
dr r c trivedi@rediffmail.com
The Ganga is not only a holy river, but also a lifeline of a large population of India, as it covers more than
26% of the country’s area in its basin in the north and drains 25% of the annual run-off. Fast urbanization,
industrialization and steep demand for water have led to serious problems of water quality degradation.
Water quality monitoring indicated that the river is polluted in some of the segments, the worst affected
lying between Kannauj and Allahabad, approximately 350 km long. About 12,222 million litres per day
(mld) of domestic and 2500 mld of industrial wastewater is generated in the entire basin, out of which
about 2573 mld of wastewater is generated along its bank. Many of its tributaries are heavily polluted
and the main water quality issues are, organic pollution indicated by BOD and pathogens indicated by
coliform count. There is a fluctuating trend of water quality attributed to the flow conditions in the river
which depend on rainfall and water abstraction. In view of water scarcity in the basin, it is very important
that no wastewater be discharged into the river. There is an urgent need to augment water availability in
the basin by rainwater collection, water conservation and environmental flow determination in various
segments of the river affected by water abstraction.
Keywords: Domestic wastewater, pathogenic pollution, over-exploitation, integrated water resources
management
Introduction
The Ganga is the largest and the most important
river of India, and it is no wonder that it serves as
the cradle of the Indian civilization. Roughly 40%
of the population of India lives in the River Ganga
basin. The waters of the River Ganga are extensively
used for domestic, industrial and agricultural
purposes. A large number of people bathe in its
sacred waters because of its great religious significance.
In the recent past, due to rapid population
growth, fast urbanization and industrialization, the
quantities of wastewater and solid waste discharged
into the river are increasing and problems of water
pollution are emerging. In particular, the type of
pollution that causes water-borne diseases through
pathogenic microorganisms is a major social prob-
347
lem for the Indian people who have frequent contact
with the river. This manuscript presents the water
quality data based on monitoring of the River
Ganga over the last few decades by a national agency
(CPCB, 1978, 1982, 2006, 2008).
Ganga Basin
The Ganga basin covers slightly more than onefourth
(26.3%) of the country’s total geographical
area, and is the biggest river basin. The Ganga originates
as Bhagirathi from the Gangotri Glaciers in the
Himalaya in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand
State in India. The Bhagirathi is joined by the Alaknanda
at Deoprayag. The River Ganga flows through
the rest of the mountain region and debouches into
the plains at Haridwar. It is joined by a large number
of tributaries on both the banks in the 2,525 km long
Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 13(4):347–351, 2010. Copyright C○ 2010 AEHMS. ISSN: 1463-4988 print / 1539-4077 online
DOI: 10.1080/14634988.2010.528740

Downloaded At: 04:54 3 February 2011
348 Trivedi / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 13 (2010) 347–351
course to the Bay of Bengal. The Ganga basin is part
of the composite Ganga-Brahmputra-Meghna basin
which lies in China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh
and drains an area of 1,086,000 sq.km. Out of this
basin area, 861,000 km 2 , or roughly 80%, is located
in India. It is bounded on the north by the Himalayas,
on the west by the Aravalli as well as the
ridge separating it from the Indus basin, on the south
by the Vindhyas and Chhotanagpur Plateau and on
the east by the Brahmaputra ridge. In India, the
basin covers the whole of Uttar Pradesh, (240,798
km 2 ), Uttarakhand (53,566), Bihar (143,961 km 2 ),
West Bengal (71,485 km 2 ) and Delhi (1,484 km 2 ),
and part of Madhya Pradesh (198,962 km 2 ), Rajasthan
(112,490 km 2 ), Haryana (34,341 km 2 ) and
Himachal Pradesh (4,317 km 2 ). There are many important
holy cities and towns situated on the banks
of the Ganga which attract people from all over the
country and abroad.
River Flow
Due to the typical patterns of rainfall being restricted
to only about 3 months during a year in the
basin, the dry season flow in the Ganga and its tributaries
is only a fraction of the total annual flow.
This flow has been seriously affected in the recent
past due to over-abstraction of groundwater in the
basin, which has a marked effect on water quality of
the river. Such low discharge rates call for extreme
precaution and control of water pollution, during
the dry period in particular. In the upper stretch of
the river the natural flow is affected due to hydroelectric
dams. Therefore, the issue of maintaining
ecological flows in the river is becoming a serious
problem in view of conflicting and competing uses
of the water.
Tributaries
The Ganga has a large number of tributaries;
some of these are of Himalayan origin with considerably
large water wealth. The important tributaries
within India are the Kali, the Ramganga, the Yamuna,
the Gomti, the Ghaghara, the Gandak and
the Kosi. The Yamuna, although a tributary of the
Ganga, is virtually a river by itself. Its major tributaries
are the Chambal, the Sind, the Betwa and the
Ken. The main plateau tributaries of the Ganga are
the Tons, the Son, the Damodar and the Kasai-Haldi.
Major Sources of Pollution
Domestic wastes
The major source of pollution is discharge of
untreated domestic wastewater from the fast growing
large urban centres located along the river. It is
mostly organic waste, sewage, trash, food, and human
and animal remains. Over the past few decades,
urban populations along the Ganges have grown at
a tremendous rate, while waste-control infrastructure
has remained relatively unchanged. The sacred
practice of depositing human remains in the Ganges
also poses health threats because of the unsustainable
rate at which partially cremated cadavers are
dumped. Thousands of cremations are performed
every day along the river, most on wood pyres that
do not completely consume the body. Along with
the remains of these traditional funerals, there are
thousands more who cannot afford cremation and
whose bodies are simply thrown into the Ganges.
In addition, the carcasses of thousands of dead cattle,
which are sacred to Hindus, go into the river
each year. An inadequate cremation procedure contributes
to a large number of partially burned or
unburned corpses floating down the Ganga.
Domestic wastewater, which is the major source
of pollution of the river is contributed from the
larger cities/towns, especially Class-I cities (population
over 100,000) and Class-II towns (population
50,000–100,000). The smaller towns and villages
generally do not contribute any significant
wastewater. There are 179 Class I cities and 148
Class II towns in the basin. The recent survey of
Class I cities and Class II towns carried out by Central
Pollution Control Board, Government of India
(CPCB, 2006) indicated that about 12,222 million
liter day −1 (MLD) of wastewater are generated in
the Ganga basin out of which treatment facilities
are only available for 4050 MLD. Thus there is a
large gap between the wastewater generation and
treatment capacity (Tables 1 and 2).
The Ganga Action Plan
The treatment of domestic wastewater is the responsibility
of the urban local bodies (ULBs) under
the Constitution of India. However, due to a
paucity of resources they are not able to fulfill this
responsibility and so a large amount of wastewater
is not being treated but still being discharged into
the rivers, causing significant pollution. Realizing

Downloaded At: 04:54 3 February 2011
Trivedi / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 13 (2010) 347–351 349
Table 1. Disposal of Wastewater in Ganga Basin, from Class-I cities and Class-II towns.
Class-I Cities Class-II Towns Total
Volume of Volume of Volume of
Wastewater, Wastewater, Wastewater,
Mode of Disposal Number MLD Number MLD Number MLD
Into the Ganga River 36 2442.1 15 130.5 51 2572.6
Into the tributaries 113 7841.5 17 126.0 130 7967.5
On to land for irrigation 30 907.4 116 774.8 146 1682.2
Grand Total 179 11,191.0 148 1031.3 327 12,222.3
the importance of the Ganga River, the Government
of India has launched Ganga Action Plan (GAP)
to assist the ULBs to install treatment plants in the
27 priority towns along the Ganga River to restore
its water quality. In Phase-I of the GAP a treatment
capacity of 870 MLD was created (Ministry
of Environment and Forests, Government of India,
2009, http://www. envfor.nic.in/nrcd). Subsequently
in Phase-II of the GAP, an additional capacity of
130 MLD was created in 48 smaller towns along the
river. Similarly, a treatment capacity of 720 MLD
was created under the Yamuna Action Plan, (YAP)
and a capacity of 2330 MLD was created by Government
of Delhi for restoration of water quality in
the Yamuna River. However, due to fast urbanization
these efforts were not adequate to achieve the
clean Ganga target. Water scarcity resulting from
over-abstraction of surface and groundwater in the
basin due to the fast increase in water demand is
another serious issue which needs to be addressed.
In order to effectively use the facilities created, it
is important that the treatment plants are used efficiently.
Due to the paucity of resources the treatment
plants created under GAP or YAP are not effectively
utilized in the majority of cases leading to no
marked impact on improvement in water quality of
Table 2. Sewage Treatment.
1. Sewage Treatment capacity
created under Ganga Action Plan
Phase-I
2. Sewage treatment capacity
created along the Yamuna
3. Additional towns (48 towns)
where sewage treatment capacity
is being created under GAP
Phase-II
870 MLD
3050 MLD
130 MLD
the rivers. Therefore, an integrated water resources
management plan needs to be implemented rather
than just provision of wastewater treatment facilities.
Industrial Sources
It is estimated that the amount of industrial
wastewater by volume is about 2500 MLD, or
20% of the total volume of wastewater generated
in the Ganga Basin. The most important industrial
pollution source is from Uttar Pradesh (nearly
55%) followed by Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,
West Bengal and others. The major industrial
towns located along the river are Kanpur (tanneries),
Kolkata (tanneries), Allahabad (engineering)
and Varanasi (carpets and locomotive); whereas
on its tributaries Yamunanagar (paper, sugar and
distilleries), Panipat (distilleries, fertilizer, textiles),
Sonepat, (enginnering, tanneries, paper) Gurgaon
(paper, aumobile), Faridabad (engineering, automobile,
home appliances), Indore (textiles, automobiles,
pharmaceuticals), Dewas (security paper
mills, textiles), Nagda (rayon, caustic soda plant),
Ujjain (textiles), Muzaffarnagar (sugar and distilleries),
Modinagar (sugar and distilleries), Ghaziabad
(home appliance, distillery), Mathura (textile,
refinery), Agra (foundries, petha industries),
Meerut (sugar and distilleries), Aligarh (engineering),
Noida (enginnering), Rampur (sugar and distilleries),
Kashipur (sugar, distilleries, pharmaceutical),
Kota (rayon, fertilizer, chemicals), Udaipur
(cement, zinc smeler), Bhilwara (textile), Bokaro
(steel and thermal power), Dhanbad (thermal power,
coal mines), Asansol (distillery, pharmaceutical,
food) and Durgapur (steel, thermal power) are
the major towns. The industries are mainly agrobased;
i.e. sugar, distilleries, paper, (small and large)

Downloaded At: 04:54 3 February 2011
350 Trivedi / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 13 (2010) 347–351
tanneries, textiles, engineering, automobiles, thermal
power, fertilizer plants, pharmaceuticals and
refineries. Most industries have adopted the treatment
facilities. However, correct operation of the
treatment facilities has to be ensured. There is a
large number of small scale industries located in
residential areas of almost all the cities/towns or
even villages in the basin. For such industries provision
of treatment is a problem, as the space is often
not available. Moreover, the land is gradually becoming
scarce and precious in the urban areas and
therefore mostly not available for treatment.
Agriculture
The agricultural activities in the Ganga Basin
are quite advanced and fertilizer and pesticide consumption
is quite significant. However, there is no
recent data on their consumption. The Ganga basin
survey (CPCB, 1982-83) reported that almost 33.8%
of India’s annual consumption, which means about
6.8 million tonnes of fertilizers and about 33,800
tonnes of various kinds of pesticides, are used in
the basin. The application of fertilizer and pesticides
per hectare of land varies tremendously and is
higher in the alluvial plains, which is agriculturally
more advanced here. However, agro-chemicals as a
source of pollution is not very significant due to the
fact that these chemicals only contribute to the river
when there is surface run-off, and there are few runoff
events as on an average there are only 40 rainy
days per year. During rainy days the river is also
in spate and significant dilution is available. Hence
pollution due to agro-chemicals is not significantly
detected in the river.
Water Quality Monitoring
The water quality monitoring of the river
Ganga is carried out at 20 locations as depicted
in Figure 1 (Figure 1 available at www.aehms.
org/Journal/13 4 Trivedi Appendix.html) and in its
several tributaries, as well as in some locations on
lakes, canals and drains in the basin, by the State Pollution
Control Boards of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West
Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as well as
by the Central Pollution Control Board at 101 locations.
Monitoring is done on a monthly basis and the
data analysed and put on a web-site. CPCB also publishes
an Annual Water Quality Statistics of India
(CPCB 1992 to 2007).
Water Quality Status
The last 25 years of monitoring water quality by
CPCB indicated that organic and pathogenic pollution
are the most evident as indicated by high
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and coliform
counts in the river. The BOD level at several locations
between Haridwar and Tarighat is more than
the desirable limit of 3 milligrams per liter. In the
stretch between Kannauj and Kanpur, BOD often
rises to a high level of 5 to 8 milligrams per liter, due
to episodic pollution arising from the industries in
the Kali River and Ramganga River Basins. Despite
intensive use of water, heavy withdrawals and substantial
discharges of domestic and industrial wastes
throughout its course, the Ganga water shows a considerable
amount of resilience as far as pollution is
concerned and the dissolved oxygen (DO) along the
entire course shows a remarkably stable and healthy
pattern. The oxygen content never falls below the
critical level of 5 milligrams per liter. The water
quality in terms of Fecal Coliform (FC) count has
been poor virtually all along the river downstream of
Haridwar. From Kannauj to Trighat the FC content
was found to be high upstream, the most probable
number (MPN) ranging from 900 to 150,000 per 100
mililiters. Since this is much above the critical limit
prescribed for the designated best use, i.e. ‘Outdoor
Bathing’ of Ganga water in this stretch, it calls for
serious attention. Again, in the lower reaches of the
Hugli, especially below Palta, very high levels of
the fecal coliform organisms are observed: 7500 to
295,000 MPN 100 ml −1 . Despite the fact that the
ambient water quality of the Ganga is rather poor at
many segments, the river is actually being used as
if it is of higher grade, through outdoor bathing by
the millions of people who take holy dips throughout
the course of the river, from Gangotri to Ganga
Sagar.
From the above information on water quality of
the Ganga, it is revealed that the stretches from
Kanpur to Patna and from Nabadwip to Diamond
Harbour are of concern. Although DO content of
the river water in these stretches is well above 5
milligrams per liter, BOD and fecal coliform levels
are considerably high, suggesting that the municipal
wastes from the towns need to be carefully tackled,
and untreated wastes should not be allowed to be
discharged into the river, in any case.
Due to high BOD and FC in the river, especially
along the city limits of Kanpur, Allahabad and
Varanasi, the river is not fit for its designated best

Downloaded At: 04:54 3 February 2011
Trivedi / Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management 13 (2010) 347–351 351
use of ‘Outdoor Bathing’. Nevertheless the river is
intensively used in this stretch for sacred holy dips.
Conclusions
Fast urbanization and industrialization resulting
in discharge of untreated or partially treated wastewater,
coupled with massive abstraction of water for
irrigation, industrial and domestic use, are the main
causes of water quality degradation in the Ganga
River. No river can afford a situation where it is deprived
of its flow and loaded with organic matter and
nutrients. The efforts made to restore water quality
through the Ganga Action Plan were grossly inadequate,
due to fast growth in the urban population
along the river and lack of resources for operation
and maintenance of the wastewater treatment facilities
created. Moreover, the focus of the Ganga Action
Plan was restricted to augmentation of wastewater
treatment facilities only; there were no efforts
on water resources management, conservation or its
judicious use. There is a need to implement an integrated
water resources management plan in the
entire Ganga Basin in order to achieve water quality
targets, and ecological flows in the Ganga and its
tributaries.
References
CPCB, 1978. Scheme of Zoning and Classification of Indian
Rivers Estuaries and Coastal water (Pt. 1 Sweet Water),
ADSORBS/3/1977-78, Central Pollution Control Board,
Govt of India.
CPCB, 1982. Ganga Basin Report ( Part-II Entire Ganga Basin)
ADSORBS/7/19982-83, Central Pollution Control Board,
Govt of India.
CPCB, 2006. Status of Sewage Treatment in India. Central Pollution
Control Board, Government of India: Control of Urban
Pollution Series:CUPS/37/ 2005-2006.
CPCB, 1992–2008. Annual Water Quality Statistics of India,
1992 to 2008. Central Pollution Control Board, Government
of India. Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic
Resources Series: MINARS/7/1991-92, to MINARS /28 /
2007-2008.
CPCB, 2008. Annual Water Quality Statistics of India, from
1994 to 2008. Central Pollution Control Board, Government
of India. Monitoring of Indian National Aquatic Resources
Series: MINARS/7/1991-92, to MINARS /28/2007-
2008 http://www.envfor.nic.in/nrcd