Pollution level spikes in Hindon, finds UPPCB report

Noida: The pollution levels in river Hindon have worsened in January as compared to December last year, as per the latest report of the state pollution body released on Thursday

Noida: The pollution levels in river Hindon have worsened in January as compared to December last year, as per the latest report of the state pollution body released on Thursday. The river continues being rated under category ‘E’, making it unfit for drinking, bathing or propagation of aquatic life despite conventional treatment and disinfection, the report said.

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According to environmentalists, the poor state of Hindon is due to illegal discharge of untreated effluents in the river by the industries and several unauthorised residential colonies built at its floodplains in Ghaziabad and Noida.

While the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) report does not mention the data for industrial effluents like amount of hard metals -- mercury, chromium iron, arsenic, cadmium, lead, etc. -- the UPPCB has tested water on basic parameters and found the pollution levels very high.

UPPCB analysis of the samples collected from downstream of Kulesra in Noida, for January 2021, found the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels to be 45 milligrams per litre (mg/l) against 30mg/l in December last year, which is 15 times the permissible limits of up to 3 mg/l.

Similarly, the total coliform has been detected to be 28,00,000 most probable number (MPN)/100 ml (against 14,00,000 in December), which is about 5,600 times higher than the maximum allowed levels of 500 MPN/100 ml. The faecal coliform was found to be 22,00,000 MPN/100ml (11,00,000 in December) which is about 880 times the max permissible levels of 2,500 MPN/100 ml, the UPPCB report said. The higher levels of the total coliform shows that high volume of sewage is flowing through the river.

The report also said that dissolved oxygen level for the river was nil against the minimum requirement of 5mg/l. Dissolved oxygen level is the life of a river, which being nil means that the river is virtually dead with water unfit for any consumption.

UPPCB officials said they are ensuring that the industrial effluents are under check, while the current status of the river is based on several factors, including illegal residential areas discharging the untreated effluents.

“There could be many factors behind the pollution in the river such as the total flow, status of its source and the districts it passes through. In Noida, we have ensured that the industrial effluents are kept under check and we also inspect the industries to see if their effluent treatment plants are functioning. It’s the untapped sewage that needs to be checked,” said Praveen Kumar, regional officer, UPPCB, Noida.

According to Akash Vashishtha, a Ghaziabad-based environmentalist who in 2015 took the matter of pollution in Hindon to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the current state of the river is a clear indication that no orders or judgments of the NGT are being complied with. “In the 2017 judgement by NGT, there were common direction and principles for rejuvenation and revival of Ganga as well as Hindon being a tributary of Yamuna. However, the current state of the river is itself a clear violation of the NGT’s order,” said Vashishtha.

He further points out that the river fails to meet even bathing water quality norms while no wildlife or fisheries can thrive in it. “More and more illegal constructions are being facilitated by government agencies on Hindon floodplains in Ghaziabad and Noida, which discharge their sewage directly into the river. It is pertinent to say here that the UPPCB has tested only the basic river parameters and has not tested the industrial effluents at all,” Vashishtha added.

Hindon comes from Saharanpur and enters Greater Noida from Chijarsi border after passing through Meerut, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, and Ghaziabad. Throughout its 50km of length across Gautam Budh Nagar district, it disappears in almost equally polluted Yamuna at Momnathal in Tilwara village of Greater Noida.