NEW DELHI: The Union Environment Ministry has taken up a new strategy for conservation and rejuvenation of major river water systems. The new strategy takes into account the entire river basin, which is contributing its flow to the particular river stretch for conservation.
“The present strategy for conservation of rivers is limited only to tackling pollution load from domestic waste water and regulation of industrial pollution. The new approach is a holistic one for rejuvenation of rivers, wherein water management and environment management are taken together for implementation to restore the lost ecology of the polluted stretches of the rivers,” Dr. Harsh Vardhan said.
The Central Pollution Control Board had identified 302 river stretches on 275 rivers in the country as polluted, based on Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand, a critical parameter of water quality.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan decided to call a meeting of all five states and work out an implementation plan for Ganga river basin at the earliest and also rope in the resources from CAMPA fund.
Projects to treat sewage, which is a most significant polluter, will be taken up immediately.
The project report prepared by FRI for Catchment area Treatment of Ganga river covers five states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal has an estimated cost of Rs. 2500 crore approximately. The need of the hour is to prepare a project for the catchments of all important rivers of the country and implement the same over a period of next 10 years. The ultimate mission is to make all the rivers clean and ensure adequate water in the river to flow.