NGT raises alarm over Sutlej river pollution

• The National Green Tribunal directed the Punjab and Rajasthan governments to submit quarterly compliance reports to the Ministry of Jal Shakti (water resources), about the remedial action being taken to curb the inflow of effluent discharge into the Satluj and Beas.
• Pollution in river Sutlej, that runs through a 65-kilometre-long stretch across Punjab and Rajasthan, has posed serious health threats to the people living around the Indira Gnadhi Canal.

Sources of Pollution:

• One of the reasons for the pollution is Buddha nallah, a tributary of the Sutlej.
• According to a Punjab government report, the Sutlej carries Class B water (moderate water pollution) before confluence of Buddha Nullah, but soon turns to Class E water (high degree of pollution making it unfit for any human or irrigation use) after the confluence of the nullah downstream of Ludhiana.
• Buddha Nullah and East Bein (a rivulet in Doaba in Punjab) are major point sources discharging treated / untreated wastewater into the Sutlej.
• Buddha Nullah contributes about 16,672 kilogram a day of biological oxygen demand (BOD) load; East Bein contributes about 20,900 kg / day of BOD load.

three major sources polluting the Buddha Nullah:

• Untreated sewage waste from Ludhiana city sewage treatment plants (STP),
• untreated industrial effluents from dyeing units
• outlets that directly release sewage and industrial waste into the stream.

Pollutants:

• Traces of chromium and arsenic can be found in the Sutlej after confluence of Buddha Nullah.
• Prevalence of mercury, lead, chromium, cadmium and selenium in more than permissible limits (MPL) in the groundwater and surface water in and around drains like Buddha Nallah, Chitti Bein and Kala Sanghian.
• Heavy metals and pesticides were also detected in fodder, vegetable, milk, urine and blood samples.

Indira Gandhi Canal:

• Indira Gandhi Canal, the longest canal in the country, starts from Harike Barrage, a few kilometres below the confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers in Punjab, flows through Ludhiana and terminates in the Thar Desert in northwest Rajasthan.
• The canal is a source of drinking and irrigation in the north and western Rajasthan.
• The pollution has caused several health complications among people such as skin diseases, gastroenteritis, indigestion and loss of eyesight.
• The water in the Indira Gandhi canal has apparently turned black due to the presence of pollutants in it.

Sutlej river:

• The Satluj rises from the Manasarovar-Rakas Lakes in western Tibet at a height of 4,570 m within 80 km of the source of the Indus.
• Like the Indus, it takes a north-westerly course upto the Shipki La on the Tibet-Himachal Pradesh boundary.
• It cuts deep gorges where it pierces the Great Himalaya and the other Himalayan ranges.
• Before entering the Punjab plain, it cuts a gorge in Naina Devi Dhar, where the famous Bhakra dam has been constructed.
• After entering the plain at Rupnagar (Ropar), it turns westwards and is joined by the Beas at Harike.
• From near Ferozepur to Fazilka it forms the boundary between India and Pakistan for nearly 120 km.
• During its onward journey it receives the collective drainage of the Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum rivers.
• It joins the Indus a few kilometres above Mithankot.
• Out of its total length of 1,450 km, it flows for 1,050 km in Indian territory.