Ganga's water quality has improved, almost entire stretch of river fit for bathing now

The government on Thursday said that there has been a considerable improvement in the quality of water of Ganga and almost the entire stretch of the river is now fit for bathing.

As per the Water Quality data of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Dissolved Oxygen which is an indicator of river health has been found to be within acceptable limits of notified primary bathing water quality criteria and satisfactory to support the ecosystem of river across all season and also for almost entire stretch of river Ganga.

Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Satya Pal Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha said that the Centre has executed the projects of waste water management, solid waste management and development of ghats and crematoria for cleaning Ganga River under Namami Gange Programme. "Till date, 105 projects of wastewater management, 3 projects of ghat cleaning (SWM) and 37 projects of ghat and crematoria development have been taken up," he said.

He said that the river water quality assessment carried out in 2017 indicates that there has been an improvement in water quality trends as compared to 2016. "The Dissolved Oxygen levels have improved at 33 locations and is above the primary bathing water quality requirements of 5 mg/l, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels and Faecal coliforms have improved at 26 locations and at 30 locations, respectively," he said.

Some stretches, where improvement has been observed are:

Ganga at Rishikesh U/S
Ganga at Haridwar D/S
Ganga at Allahabad D/S (Sangam),
Ganga at Kanpur D/S (Jajmau Pumping Station)
Ganga at Varanasi U/S (Assighat)
Ganga at Buxar, Ramrekhaghat
Ganga at Punpun, Patna
Ganga at Diamond Harbour
Ganga at Garden Reach
Ganga at Baharampur
Ganga at Howrah Shivpur

He added that five projects of electric crematoria have been completed in Kolkata, Howrah, Mahestala, Hooghly-Chinsura and Halishahar town in West Bengal under NGRBA programme and 4 projects of electric crematoria are under construction at Garulia, Bhatpara and Naihati towns in West Bengal and Patna in Bihar with completion timeline of December, 2018.