By HT
20 Nov 2007
The waters of the Ganga and Yamuna may be polluted in most places, but in Uttarakhand where these rivers orginate, their water is clean in most stretches excluding a few patches in Rishikesh and Haridwar, says a government study.
Studies carried out by the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) in 2006 and 2007 indicate water quality of Ganga, Yamuna and other rivers in the state is free of harmful pollutants in most places.
According to the findings, the amount of total dissolved solids in Himalayan rivers in Uttarakhand varied between 52 to 180 milligram per litre in April 2006 and 64 to 144 milligrams per litre in April this year, except in Ganga at Laxman Jhula and Haridwar where it was found to be above 200. “The pH value of Himalayan rivers was 7.5 in April 2006 and between 6.59 to 7.54 in April 2007, which almost comes under desirable value. This may be due to no discharge of industrial effluents,” says a UEPPCB newsletter.
Adequate dissolution of oxygen due to up and down movement of river water results in presence of more than 6 mg per litre dissolved oxygen in these rivers, which is desirable for aquatic animals. The studies also found the amounts of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) were within desirable levels.
No coliform (a bacteria found especially in faeces) was found in the rivers except in Ganga at Rishikesh and Haridwar and it was noted that bacteriological contamination didn’t have much influence on biological water quality.
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