BHOPAL:
Legend has it that one needs to take a dip in the river Ganges to wash
all sins. In case of Narmada, a mere glimpse serves the purpose.
Unfortunately, facts are contrary to the belief.
Revered by
millions, the lifeline of Madhya Pradesh, Narmada is polluting fast.
Huge quantity of waste from cities and villages situated along the river
and effluents discharged from industries have already pushed the
quality of water down to "B" category, according to Bureau of Indian
Standard 2296 norms. Those who worship the river are also to be blamed
for the rising level of pollution.
From Amarkantak, the place
of its origin to the gulf of Khambat, almost 80% of 1312-km-long river
flows in Madhya Pradesh with help of its 41 tributaries quenching the
thirst of millions and irrigating almost 1 lakh hectare area in the
state.
However, the rampant deforestation in its catchment area and population pressure is wreaking havoc on the river.
Pollution starts the moment it emerges out of the sacred Narmada kund- a
pond in Amarkantak plateau at a height of about 1048 meters above sea
level and cascades down from about 100 feet from Kapildhara, a
waterfall. The pollution level increases further alarmingly as it flows
down the hills to the tribal-dominated district of Dindori starting its
long journey to the Arabian Sea.
A report of the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board
(MPPCB) indicates that in Dindori, the quality of water was under 'C'
category of the BIS's 2296 norms (1981). Huge quantity of sewage is
directly discharge into the river in Dindori. The pollution control
board monitors the quality of the river at 21 points four times every
year.
As the river flows further, municipal waste
of 19 cities - Amarkantak and Dindori, Mandla, Bargi, Jabalpur,
Gotegaon, Gadarwara, Pipariya, Narsinghpur, Babai, Hoshangabad, Kareli-
Barmanghat, Harda, Badwaha, Badwani, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar and
Mandeleshwar --is impacting the health of river.
However, the
urban administration and development department has identified 52 such
cities in the downstream that have been discharging their municipal
discharge directly.
A detailed project report is being prepared
for treatment of municipal waste. "The project is already delayed and
this being an election year, there won't be any progress on this front,"
a government official said.
"We are continuously monitoring the river," said Dr N P Shukla, chairman, pollution control board. "Narmada is clean."
"Currently, we are identifying 14 new places for monitoring the quality of Narmada water."
"Luckily, we don't have industrial pollution in Narmada-it is the
municipal waste that is polluting the river. After we pursued the issue,
a Rs 1,300 crore scheme is being prepared for installation of sewage
treatment plants in these cities," Shukla said.
Private
industries on the banks of river and nearby areas have a "zero
discharge" permission while it doesn't apply to the Security Paper
Mills, Hoshangabad, because this was set up before the Water (prevention
and control of pollution) Act 1974 came into existence, says R K
Shrivastava, superintending engineer, MP Pollution Control Board.
The mill, a Government of India undertaking, set up in 1964 discharges water into the river after treating it.
Private industrial units along the river include Trident Mills and
Vardhman Yarn in Budhni, Associated Distillery Barwaha, Agrawal
Distillery Khodi and Sanctuary and Maral Overseas Ltd, Kasrawad in
Khargone.
Natural heritage
Amarkantak
region is a unique natural heritage area. It is the meeting point of
the Vindhya and Satpura ranges with Maikal hills being the fulcrum.
Hoshangabad: Narmada or gutter
A study conducted by four experts from colleges of Bhopal shows
pollution in the river in Hoshangabad and how its potable nature was
lost. The study was conducted by Shraddha Sharma of Maulana Azad
National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Rakesh Vishwakarma of Swami
Vivekanand College of Science and Technology, Savita Dixit of MANIT and
Praveen Jain of Bhoj Open University. According to study, the major
source of pollutants are local anthropogenic activities, agricultural
runoff and industrial effluent. It was found that physico-chemical
characteristics of a few of the river water samples crossed the maximum
permissible limit due to heavy mixing of effluent waste and domestic
sewage. It was noticed that the physico-chemical parameters indicated
that aquatic system of the river Narmada was disturbed. The study
concluded that due to discharge of untreated sewage into the river, its
water quality has severely deteriorated and water is unsafe for potable
use.
Limits set
The Central Water Commission
(CWC) has specified tolerance limits for inland surface waters for the
various classes of water use. As per ISI-IS: 2296-1982, following are
the categories.
Class A: Drinking water source without conventional treatment but after disinfection
Class B: Outdoor bathing
Class C: Drinking water source with conventional treatment followed by disinfection
Class D: Fish culture and wildlife propagation
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