The National Green Tribunal has been informed that according to an Uttarakhand government's repo🅘rt on pollution in Ganga, even the "originating point" of the pious river is polluted by sewage treatment plant (STP) discharge.
According to a report by the Uttarakhand government on pollution in Ganga, even the "originating point" of the pious river is polluted by sewage treatment plant (STP) discharge.
The National Green Tribunal has been informed that according to an Uttarakhand government's repo🅘rt on pollution in Ganga, even the "originating point" of the pious river is polluted by sewage treatment plant (STP) discharge.
The submission was made during the proceedingsཧ about the prevention and control of pollution in Ganga in Uttarakhand. The tribunal had earlier sought a report from the state and others.
A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivast𝔉ava noted the submissions of the advocate of one of the intervening applicanꦯts, who referring to the state's report, pointed out that a faecal coliform having the most probable number (MPN) of 540/100 ml was found in the sample collected from the 1 million litres per day (MLD) capacity sewage treatment plant (STP) at Gangotri.
Faecal coliform (FC) levels show pollution from the microbes from the excreta of humans and animals. According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) water quality criteria, an MPN of less t✱han 500/100 ml is desirable for "organised outdoor bathing".
In the order passed on November 5, the NGT bench also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel noted, "She (the advocate) has submitted that even the originating po𝄹int of the pious river Ganga is polluted by the STP discharge."
The tribunal also noted CPCB's report about the compliance of norms and functionality of the STPs and said that out of 53 commissioned STPs, only 50 were fun𒐪ctional and 48 were not complying with the norms, including FC levels, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removal efficiency range and utilisation capacity.
Comparing the state's report with the 🦋CPCB report, it said, "We find that disclosures which have been made by the state of Uttarakhand in his latest report are doubtful."
"Thus, we require the Chief Secretary to duly l𒊎ook into the matter and ensure that a proper status report with due compliance is fi🍒led," it added.
The tribunal also𒐪 noted deficiencies in the state's rep♑ort about the STPs.
It said, "Many of the STPs are either underutilised (Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Pauri, Chamoli) or receiving the excess quantity of sewage against their designed capacity (Haridwar, Tehri) and there is no mention of inundation of STPs du🐟ring flooding/backflow."
Regarding the status of drains in the states, the tribunal noted that 63 untapped drains were directly discharging untre𝓡ated sewage into the Ganga and it😼s tributaries.
"We also find that in towns of Kash🀅ipur, Bazpur and Kitchha of d🥃istrict Udham Singh Nagar, all the drains are untapped," it said.
"The next report of the state needs to clarify action to be taken in a time-bound manner to ensure that no sewage carrying (BOD) load and FC joins Ganga or its tributaries," the 🔜tribunal added.
The matter 𝕴has been posted for further proceedings on February 13.