Lockdown Failed To Improve Quality Of Water In River Ganges In Long-Term, Still Unfit To Drink

One of the few good things that happened in 2020 was how nature healed itself the scars of years of human abuse. Across the world, there were cleaner rivers, air, and more animals, birds, and aquatic species were visible when humans were forced to stay inside.

In India too the scenes were not different but as the lockdown restrictions were eased, and we went back to our lives as normal, the pollution levels in air and water once again shot up.

AFP

And one of the most visible change that has happened is how the quality of the water in River Ganga has deteriorated.

In April 2020, at the peak of the lockdown, for the first time in many years, the water of the river, considered holy by Hindus was said to be good enough for drinking.

BCCL

But less than a year after that Uttar Pradesh State Pollution Control Board has told the Allahabad High Court that the water of river Ganga is not fit for drinking.

The submission was made on Thursday, in a suo moto case registered by the High Court in the year 2006, to protect and restore the river.

On Thursday, the State Pollution Control Board submitted a water quality analysis report, indicating that the water of river Ganga is not fit for drinking, but is fit for bathing.

BCCL

Amicus Curiae AK Gupta informed the Bench that untreated water of various drains are being directly flown in both Yamuna and Ganga rivers and as a result, the water has changed in colour.

Last week, new research by an international team of scientists had suggested that the combined flows of the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, the Ganga river could be responsible for up to three billion microplastic particles entering the Bay of Bengal every day.

The microplastics identified were dominated by fibers and fragments, according to the study.

Ganga rises in the Himalayas and runs through India and Bangladesh, where it joins the Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers shortly before reaching the Indian Ocean.

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The combined flows of the three rivers are the largest in South Asia and form the most populous basin in the world, with over 655 million inhabitants relying on the water it provides.

The study was conducted using samples collected by an international team of scientists as part of the National Geographic Society's 'Sea to Source: Ganges expedition'.

"Globally, it has been estimated that 60 billion pieces of plastic are discharged into the ocean from rivers worldwide each day. However, what has been lacking until now has been a detailed analysis of how microplastic concentrations vary along a river's course," said the study's lead author Imogen Napper from the University of Plymouth in Britain.

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Over two expeditions in 2019, 120 samples -- 60 each in pre and post-monsoon conditions -- were gathered from 10 sites by pumping river water through a mesh filter to capture any particles.

The samples were then analysed in laboratories at the University of Plymouth with microplastics found in 43 of the samples taken pre-monsoon, and 37 post-monsoon.

More than 90 per cent of the microplastics found were fibres and, among them, rayon and acrylic -- both of which are commonly used in clothing -- were the most abundant, said the study published in the journal 'Environmental Pollution'.

Combining the predicted microplastic concentration at the mouth of the river with the discharge of the river, scientists estimate that between one billion and three billion microplastics might be being released from the Ganges Brahmaputra Meghna River Basin every day.