Chandigarh, April 25, 2020 (Yes Punjab News)
The water quality in Sutlej River has not shown improvement downstream of Budha Nallah during the lockdown period, a comparative study of water samples taken from 16 different locations by the Punjab Pollution Control Board during the month of April has shown.
No improvement in the water quality of River Sutlej is on account of the decreased flow of water from upstream in the river during the month of April. River Beas which is being monitored at 10 locations, starting from Beas at Talwara headworks upto Beas at Harike, has shown further improvement in water quality.
Er Krunesh Garg, member secretary of the Punjab Pollution Control Board, in a press release issued here said, the Board was monitoring River Sutlej starting from Upstream Nangal to Downstream Hussianiwala under National Water Monitoring Programme(NWMP). The Board is monitoring the river on monthly basis.
The Board has monitored the River Sutlej during the coronavirus lockdown period to know the impact of closedown of industrial & institutional activities in the State. PPCB has observed that the lockdown has no doubt led to a reduction in the dumping of waste water into the river however no improvement in the water quality has been observed w.r.t. Biochemical oxygen demand levels. India has been placed under a three-week lockdown since March 24 which has been extended for another 19 days.
The dissolved oxygen levels have shown improvement at the various monitoring locations along the stretch of the river. The Sutlej River water at Upstream Nangal conforms to Class-B as per Designated Best Use classification. At this point Dissolved Oxygen and Total Coliforms have improved in April 2020 as compared to March,2020. The BOD level remains same in both months.
As the river progresses further its water quality remains as Class ‘B’ upto Kiratpur Sahib. There is improvement in DO and Total Coliform levels. The flow of water in the river remains same in April as compared to March. The water quality at Ropar Head Works remains Class’C’, however, there is a decrease in the Total Coliform levels.
The water quality remains Clas s’C’ upto upstream Budha Nallah in River Sutlej. Dissolved Oxygen levels have registered decrease from upstream Budha Nallah monitoring point downstream in April due to reduction of flow in the river which has decreased by 2000 cusecs.
In these days, only domestic waste water is flowing in the Budha Nallah, which is the carrier of wastewater of Ludhiana City. Due to lockdown, all the industrial, commercial, institutional activities of Ludhiana city are shut down & no waste water is being discharged by them. Accordingly, the flow in Budha Nallah has also observed to be decreased from 600 MLD to 475 MLD.
The analysis result shows marginal increase of BOD in the month of April as compared to February at downstream Buddha Nallah in River Sutlej, due to discharge of organic domestic wastewater and reduction of water flow in the river. The Total Coliform have also shown decrease at this point.
The BOD level of Budha Nallah during lockdown period has been observed to be 190 mg/l against 180 mg/l during February, which shows not much significant change in the water quality of BudhaNallah due to organic domestic discharge. Heavy metals like Hexa chrome, Total chrome, Nickle, Cadmium and Lead were observed to be below detection limits as observed in the earlier months also.
At downstream East Bein, there is slight reduction of DO and increase in BOD which is due to organic domestic load in the East Bein as well as decrease in water flow.
The river water quality at Harike Lake remains Class ‘C’. At this point, there is slight reduction in DO but slight increase in BOD level in April as compared to March. This is due to decrease of flow in the river.
Dr. S.S. Marwaha, Chairman, PPCB informed that it is clear from the results of river monitoring of Sutlej April, 2020 as compared to March, 2020 that the BOD level at downstream of Buddha Nallah and downstream of East Bein has not reduced even after the lockdown of industrial activities due to discharge of organic load into the river through Buddha Nallah and East Bein and also due of reduction of flow in the river.
Dr. Marwaha further informed that River Beas remains cleanest in the State & has shown further improvement in water quality w.r.t. Dissolved Oxygen & F. Coli concentration during lockdown period of April month.
Water quality of River Beas remains “B” category as per Designated Best Use classification at all the locations in the month of March and April, 2020. Bio Chemical Oxygen Demands at all locations remains around 1mg/l during the month of March, 2020 and April 2020 bringing River Beas out of polluted stretch categorization.
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