[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 351 polluted river stretches on 323 rivers during 2018, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Babul Supriyo has informed the Rajya Sabha.
“Water bodies in the country are polluted due to discharge of untreated sewage, industrial effluent, agricultural runoff containing fertilizers, pesticides, etc. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is monitoring the water quality of both surface and groundwater under the National Water Monitoring Programme (NWMP) through a network of monitoring stations across the country,” the minister said in answer to questions by Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh.
He said studies by the Central Ground Water Board indicated the occurrence of contaminants such as fluoride, arsenic, nitrate, iron and heavy metals beyond permissible limits (as per BIS) for human consumption in isolated pockets in various states and union territories.
Supriyo assured the Upper House that the government was taking several steps to contain the pollution, including “formulation and notification of standards for effluents from industries, operations or processes; enforcing of these standards by state pollution control boards and pollution control committees through consent mechanism and regular monitoring; setting up of monitoring network for assessment of water quality”, among others.
The government had also undertaken awareness generation programmes and workshops on various aspects of groundwater including preventing groundwater pollution, the minister said.
