Pollution has rendered Ganga unfit for bathing, says report

Kolkata: Water in some stretches of the Ganga in Bengal is so polluted that it is unfit for bathing, owing to the growing level of pollution.

A report prepared by the state Environment department says that the pollution level in more than 10 stretches of the Ganga spreading over five districts including Kolkata is so high that the water is not safe for bathing anymore.

The revelation comes at a time when the Centre has claimed the success of Namami Gange project. Garden Reach in Kolkata is one of the affected areas, while the other affected stretches fall under the districts of Howrah, Hooghly, North 24-Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad.

The Namami Gange Project is an ambitious project of the Centre which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river in a comprehensive manner. The project is officially known as Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission project.

An earlier report prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had revealed that apart from Bengal, the water of the river is also unfit for bathing in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

A senior official of the state Environment department said that Bengal is situated downstream and hence receives all the pollutants that flow along the river from the states that are located upstream. He also said that coliform bacteria, which is mainly found in sewage, is a major cause of concern. The bacterium is often found abundantly in the waters of Ganga.

It is often alleged that the most of the sewage treatment plants in Bengal do not have a proper mechanism to treat municipal waste

water. Due to the non-functional sewage treatment plants (STPs), untreated wastewater of various municipalities gets discharged directly into the river. Such organic pollution in the river causes harm to both human beings as well as the aquatic life.

According to a city doctor, untreated urban sewage contains pathogens that cause a variety of diseases, including diarrhea. The accumulation of organic pollutant stimulates microbial growth, leading to oxygen depletion and ultimately causing severe harm to the ecosystem of the river.

Kalyan Rudra, chairman of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, said that due to the growing level of pollution, Hilsa fish and dolphins are found in lesser numbers in the Ganga compared to previous years.