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Samples taken from two-thirds of the water quality stations spanning India’s major rivers showed contamination by one or more heavy metals, exceeding safe limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

Major Findings

• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in association with State Pollution Control Boards/Committees in different States/Union Territories (UTs) have been monitoring water quality of rivers and other water bodies, across the country through a network of 4294 monitoring stations under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme.
• The monitoring is conducted and samples analyzed for various physico-chemical, micro- biological and micro-pollutants (metals & pesticides) parameters as per Guidelines for Water Quality Monitoring, 2017 issued by Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
• The concentration range of various heavy metals such as Arsenic (Ar), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni), Zinc (Zn), Mercury (Hg), Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn) observed in major rivers of the country during the year 2020.
• As per the Provisions of Environment Act, 1986 and Water Act 1974, industrial units are required to install effluent treatment plants (ETPs) and treat their effluents to comply with stipulated environmental standards before discharging into river and water bodies.
• As per the orders of NGT, regular review on implementation of action plans is undertaken in the States/UTs and also at Central level.