Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences
Vol. 5, August 1998, pp. 162-166
Foolproof pollution control of Indian rivers
D S Bhargava
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Roorkee, Roorkee 247 667 India
Received 21 October 1997
The Indian rivers have become polluted and unfit for many of their beneficial uses. The quality
management programs could not be success for most Indian rivers, and the failure of the Ganga Action
Plan is well documented. India has many special problems which adversely affect the various pollution
control strategies. The author has carried out a genesis of all such problems and suggested a foolproof
strategy which alone can restore the Indian rivers to their pristine pollution free quality status.
Rivers in India have not only been used for
agriculture, recreation, industries, drinking water
source, pisci-culture, etc., but also used, unlike in
most other countries of the world, for direct
drinking mainly for religious rites ef the Hindus.
This last use in particular,
demands
the
maintenance of high quality of the river waters in
respect
of its wholesomeness
as well as
aestheticity. This is more particularly true for the
largest Indian river Ganga (the Ganges) which is
regarded as the holiest ef all the rivers and is
designated as "Ganga Mata" (the mother Ganges)
by the millions of Hindus who have immense
religious and non-religious belief and conviction
regarding the various properties of the "Ganga Jal"
(Ganga water) despite its polluted status'. Some of
the major Indian cities such as Hardwar,
Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Calcutta, etc. have
developed along the Ganga. The names of some of
these cities have even become synonymous with
the Ganga. Culture of cities like Varanasi,
Allahabad and Hardwar dwells around the Ganga.
As a result, tourists, religious or non-religious,
local or foreign, men or women, young or old, sick
or healthy, all take opportunity to visit these cities
for various purposes including a look at the river
site and the culture and customs practiced on the
various "ghats" (platforms built along the river
bank for bathing purposes and also for carrying out
the religious rites) of the river. This scene is most
magnificiently manifested at Varanasi city which
is very popular amongst not only the Hindus but
also the foreign tourists. The Ganga also has
international implications particularly in respect of
the sharing of its water with BangIa Desh.
The ever increasing pressures of urbanisation
and industrialisation
in India together
with
inadequate sewerage, the Indian people's habits of
open defecation along the river banks and of
throwing away of unburnt dead bodies in the river
(mainly for economic reasons), a poor solid waste
collection and management system, and people's
unawareness of the implications of their age-old
unhygienic living attitudes, are some major factors
that have been instrumental in degrading the
quality status of Indian rivers. The various
identified as well as non-identified sources of
pollution have continuously been polluting the
Indian rivers. In the present times, none of the
Indian rivers are pollution free and this had been a
cause of great concern to the Indian Government'.
Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the Indian
Government, the rivers in India (particularly the
Ganga) are yet to attain satisfactory quality levels".
This paper presents an account of some special
problems associated with the Indian scenario due
to which the Indian rivers can never be cleaned
despite all possible governmental efforts, and the
author brings out a 'foolproof strategy which alone
can ensure the restoration of pristine pollution free
river conditions.
Efforts in Quality Management of Rivers in
India
The Government of India established a Central
Ganga Authority! for cleaning the Ganga and
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BHARGA VA: FOOLPROOF POLLUTION CONTROL OF INDIAN RIVERS
Yamuna rivers, and is planning to set up some
more such authorities to clean other significant
rivers. Earlier, a Central and various State level
Boards for the Prevention and Control of Water
Pollution were created as per the requirements of
the "Water (Prevention and Control) Act", 1974,
for exercising control and vigilance over the
various Municipal and industrial units that were to
be held responsible for causing pollution in the
rivers. Apart from this, the various Central and
State level departments and Municipal Corporations are responsible for the safe collection and
disposal
of municipal
wastes. The various
industrial units were required to treat their
effluents to satisfactory levels. The quality levels
of such treated effluents were specified by the
regulating agencies, that is, by the various Boards
established under the 'Water Act'. Huge sums of
money were allocated to the various Boards/
Authorities/ Departments/ Corporations, etc. for
controlling the pollution in rivers.
In addition, various governmental and nongovernmental organisations had been involved in
creating public awareness for the pollutional status
of Indian rivers. Some 'Public Interest Litigations'
were also taken up by the Supreme Court of India
to initiate directives regarding the cleaning of
rivers and also to issue notice to the various
polluting industrial units.
With the above stated efforts, that too, going on
continuously for the last several decades on a warfooting basis, what more one can expect? But the
big question regarding the satisfactory quality
status in the rivers, is still answered in negative.
Problem Associated with River Quality
Management in India
Despite massive efforts at all levels and huge
sums of money allocated for the cleaning of rivers,
no river could attain a quality level that could even
be termed satisfactory for the millions of Hindus
who use the rivers for religious rites including a
direct drinking of river water and its transport and
storage for religious rites,
The author' has analysed the entire situation in
India and comprehensively brought out numerous
technical faults that were made and mistakes that
were commited in the planning and execution of
the various projects associated with the cleaning of
the rivers in general but of Ganga in particular. In
163
the author's opinion, the Ganga river could have
easily been restored to its pristine pollution free
status with only a part of the amount of money and
manpower that was allocated for the purpose.
Apart from the numerous technical faults', the
Indian scenario (both, in regard to the river quality
expectations and in context of Indian culture,
tradition, habits, moral values, conditions, system,
economy, etc.,) manifests many special problems
(demanding serious remedial considerations)
as
follows, due to which the Indian rivers could not
and can never be cleaned despite the best efforts of
the Indian Government:
I. Almost all Indian cities have about 50% area
covered by the sewerage system. There had always
been a very haphazard development of colonies
and houses where laying of sewers is sometimes
no easy a problem. Many ancient but large cities
had developed without any provision for an
organised system of wastewater collection. As an
example, the religious city of Varanasi (this name
is synonymous
with Ganga) has maximum
population concentration along the Ganga's left
bank. This city is famous for its numerous highly
congested but extremely narrow lanes which are
less than a meter wide at many places, although the
"havelis" (the mansion or mini-fort type buildings
having high walls all around with their main gates
opening on the narrow lanes) built on both sides of
such narrow lanes are magnificiently spacious and
open inside. Perhaps, in those ancient times when
the city was built, there were no bye laws
regarding the spaces to be maintained between
houses or the minimum widths of the lanes, and
the haveli owners used their whims to leave the
spaces for the lanes. May be that it was done so
purposefully for possible security related reasons.
Naturally, in such a situation, who can dare to lay
sewers deep enough to threaten the safety of
building structures. Therefore, the easiest outlet for
the domestic wastewaters was through drains
(often hidden) falling directly into the Ganga.
Many such drain are on the upstream side of the
'ghats'. From the unsewered parts of the urban
centers, the wastewaters had to flow through open
naturally created drains towards and directly into
the rivers. To intercept such wayward flow of
wastewaters through the numerous defined and
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164
INDIAN 1. ENG. MATER. SCL, AUGUST 1998
undefined drains, and to prevent its entry into the
ri ver. is no mean a task.
2. During camps and "melas" (gathering of
people. particularly on religious occasions) on
some festival days including during the "Kumbhs"
(a religious gathering along rivers, mainly along
Ganga at Allahabad and Hardwar, occurring every
six or twelve years) along the rivers, a large and
temporary camping of the people is invariably
arranged along the banks of the rivers. This causes
a severe non-point pollution of the river al1 along
the stretch where people perform their religious
rites. It is a pity that on an occasion like this when
best quality of the river is most needed for the
largest and maximum number of people all bathing
and performing religious rites at a time, the river
attains its worst possible quality.
3. Most Indian cities including the metropols
(New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, etc.) have
a signi ficant population
living in "jhuggisjhoprees" (cluster of temporary hut like structures)
and slums where no provision exists for the
collection of wastewaters. As a result, al1 their
generated domestic wastewaters find a direct entry
into the nearby rivers only. Since a large part of
the wastewaters generate in Indian cities flows in
natural (or man-made) open drains (most often
without any lining), a significant part of such
wastewaters
percolates
continuously
into the
ground. As a result, the groundwater in such cities
had continuously been polluted for ages and this
polluted groundwater infilters into the rivers. This
kind of river pollution becomes more severe
during the lean periods when the flow in the rivers
is at its minimum. Indian cities have a very poor
management
of solid waste collection
and
disposal. This problem is more magnified due to
the casual unhygienic and whimsical habits of the
Indian people who never desist themselves from
throwing any rubbish any where any time. All such
rubbish naturally gets washed down into the rivers.
In India, for economic reasons and for quest for
higher standards of living, many families carry on
small activities such as plating in their private
residences. In a thickly populated country like
India, it is most difficult to identify al1 such
people. These people throwaway
the spent but
untreated electrolytes in street open drains to be
carried into the nearby rivers. As a result, the
rivers as well as the groundwater get polluted with
toxicants. The finances of smal1 industrial units do
not permit even a partial treatment of their
effluents. Many of them may prefer to close down
their industries when they are forced to treat their
effluents to some level, by the regulating agencies.
This can retard the national development. The
Government has no provision to help them or
subsidize their effluent treatment costs.
4. Numerous technical faults are made right
from the planning to completion stage of the
vanous
environmental
quality
management
projects
because
of the
recruitment
and
involvement of the 'not-right' type of people 2
(pseudo-environmentalists)
who easily and always
agree with the many unscientific/irrational
administrative decisions. Such pseudo environmentalists
enter into the administration,
decision making
forums, teaching and highly remunerative design
oriented consultancy
services to government!
industries,
etc., and misguide
the various
organizations by concealing their real qualifications and/or by misdesignating themselves to look
like
environmental
engineers.
The
pseudo
environmentalists with some mass-media support
also build bogus public opinions for opposing
national developmental projects to acquire political
popularity and/or lime-light. Public pressure for
river cleanings is not built up as also the Indian
public is yet to get educated about the fact that the
river cleanings have to be done by them and for
them alone. Further, only 15% of the allocated
money reaches for actual execution
of the
environmental projects in India. These factors
ensure negligible success of the environmental
control projects apart from a severe wastage of
huge public funds.
5. The quality goals for the Indian rivers at their
various 'ghats' along the urban/city stretches of the
rivers have to be very different simply because
millions of Hindus transport, collect and consume
the river waters directly and instantly.
Thus, it can be apparent that in view of the
above stated special situations in India, despite any
number of action plans or remedial measures, the
Indian rivers cannot be cleaned to any satisfactory
levels.
I
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165
BHARGA VA: FOOLPROOF POLLUTION CONTROL OF INDIAN RIVERS
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Foolproof Management
Stretegy to Restore
Indian Rivers to Their Pristine Pollution Free
Status
In view of the above explained special problems
in context of Indian conditions and situations, a
foolproof strategy is needed such that not even a
drop of wastewater (treated if the economy of city
corporation is sound, or untreated, from point or
non-point sources) or of polluted groundwater may
gain entry into the river. This will ensure a total
safe-guard of the river's water quality and enable
the millions of Hindus to find a water worth direct
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166
INDIAN 1. ENG. MATER. SCI., AUGUST
consuming for their religious rites. This kind of
strategy alone can restore the rivers to their
pristine pollution free status.
In the author's opinion, the foolproof strategy
would involve the construction of a parallel but
covered canal along the desired stretch of the river
at an urban center. Such a canal would intercept
every drop of wastewater flowing towards the
river. The rivers receiving some non-point sources
of pollution between any two urban centers shall
purify
themselves'?
through
the natural
regeneration processes. The parallel canal (Fig. 1)
would run along either or both banks of the river
depending on the development of the city. The
canal can be created by raising wall between the
river and its bank, and bridging the wall with the
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1998
river bank. The canal would carry all flows from
sewers, all non-point flows, all infiltrations of the
polluted groundwaters, etc. This varying flow type
of canal design (capacity and canal bed-slope)
would be a no difficult problem and would cost
only a small fraction of money already spent for
river c1eanings.
References
2
3
4
5
Bhargava D S, Environ Consvn, Switzerland, 14 (1987)
307.
Bhargava D S, Environ Consvn, Switzerland, 19 (1992)
170.
Bhargava D S, J Environ Eng, ASCE, 109 (1983) 174.
Bhargava D S, J Environ Eng, ASCE, 112 (1986a) 572.
Bhargava D S, J Civil Engg Trans. Instn Eng, Australia,
CE 26 (1986b) 222
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