Opinion What the river needs

The Supreme Court directive to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to act against industries that pollute the Ganga is an expression of its exasperation with the functioning of the state pollution control boards (PCBs). The apex court has told the NGT to strictly enforce anti-pollution norms and even close down units that refuse to comply. Despite the good intentions, however, such a top-down approach to cleaning the Ganga may not deliver the desired results. The PCBs have been caught napping even as the problem of industrial pollution grows more intractable, but the solution cannot be to bypass them altogether. For sustainable change, these boards must be empowered and equipped with technical knowhow and staff — and made more accountable.

Better coordination is needed among the state governments, PCBs and local bodies, especially since enforcing pollution control norms on labour-intensive industries, like tanneries, would entail social, political and economic costs. Restructuring these industries into clusters and building the necessary infrastructure to ensure zero emissions and effluents would require the involvement of local actors and state funding. Moreover, industries are just one source of pollution. Some estimates indicate that nearly 85 per cent of the river pollutants are from sewage generated by about 50 cities located along the river. The preferred mode of targeting sewage pollution since the launch of the Ganga Action Plan in the 1980s has been to instal sewage treatment plants (STP). While many more STPs are needed, even the existing ones haven’t delivered because many cities lack proper sewage systems and the power supply is erratic. Cities must build more drains and improve garbage disposal to address the sewage problem at  source rather than at the river end.

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All rivers, including the Ganga, have a self-cleansing capacity that dilutes pollutants. But over-extraction of water to meet agricultural and urban needs leaves the Ganga with little flow during large parts of the year, transforming it into a sewage channel. There has to be a rethink on the aggressive damming of the river in its upper reaches, and the barrages downstream ought to be better managed to ensure water flow in the Ganga in the lean months, which could help alleviate pollution. State governments must realise that water management and pollution in the Ganga are connected.