Gujarat rivers remain highly polluted despite norms

The Sabarmati River with its origin in Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan, flows generally in the South – West direction.
It enters the Gujarat State and passes through the plains and continues to flow in the same direction and joins the Gulf of Khambhat in the Arabian Sea.
It is joined by 5 tributaries, namely : Sei, Wakal, Harnav, Hathmati and Watrak. Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad are the important urban centres in the basin. Ahmedabad is an industrial city situated on the banks of Sabarmati.

Also known as River Mahi, it is a west flowing river. It originates in Mahi Kanta hills, Madhya Pradesh. From there it flows to Rajasthan and Gujarat, falling in the Gulf of Khambhat in Arabian Sea.
It has 3 tributaries – Som, Anas and Panam.

Originating from Pavagadh in the Panchmahal District of Gujarat, the Vishwamitri River flows mainly through the west of the city of Vadodara.

Bhadar River is a river in the Saurashtra peninsula, in Gujarat. It flows south from its origin through Jasdan, then turns south-west and generally west until it empties into the Arabian Sea near Porbandar.

To determine the pollution of the river, two things are taken into consideration based on the oxygen present in the river.

Chemical Oxygen Demand or COD is a measurement of the oxygen required to oxidize soluble and particulate organic matter in water. Permissible limit of COD is below 250 mg/l.

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a measure of how much oxygen is dissolved in the water – the amount of oxygen available to living aquatic organisms. It should be in the range of 6 to 8 mg per litre.

Recently, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has indicated high amount of pollution in the rivers of Gujarat mainly in rivers Sabarmati, Vishwamitri, Bhadar, Narmada and Mahisagar.
Pollution in rivers has emerged as a major threat in the last few years because the carelessness of the authorities about the industries discharging untreated effluents into flowing rivers.
Most of the Gujarat rivers where the effluents are dumped into, the COD level is in the range of 700 to 1000 mg per litre. While Dissolved Oxygen (DO) level is below 2.9 mg per litre.
The Gujarat State government has proposed a ₹2,300 crore project for a deep sea effluent disposal pipeline to cater to nearly 4,500 industrial units.
The project will serve four highly industrialised districts (Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Kheda and Rajkot), which are the main sources of pollution of the rivers Sabarmati, the Mahisagar, the Vishvamitri and Bhadar.

Today Current Affairs Upsc Exam Syllabus & Previous Yearpaper.