In news : Constitution of teams to Study pollution of Rivers and to assess the compliance status of GPIs for enforcing regulatory framework on the polluting industries.
What are Grossly Polluting Industries?
Grossly Polluting Industries (GPI) are defined as the industry which is discharging wastewater more than 100 kilo litres a day and/or hazardous chemicals used by the industry as specified under the Schedule-I, Part-II of The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemical Rules of 1989 under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
Classification of Industrial Units
Classification of Industrial Units with respect to products Industrial units are classified in following sectors.
- Chemicals: which mainly include fertilizer, petro-chemical , pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Distillery
- Dairy, Food & Beverage
- Pulp and Paper
- Sugar
- Tannery
- Textile, Bleaching & Dyeing
- Other (Cement, Slaughter house, Ordinance, Packaging & printing, Paint, Electronics& Electrical, Thermal, Kattha –kachh, Electroplating, Metallurgical, automobile etc.
Status of state wise water consumption and wastewater generation from grossly polluting industries in Ganga Basin areas
Background
Under Namami Gange Programme, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is operating a scheme “Pollution Inventorisation Assessment and Surveillance on river Ganga (PIAS)” for inventorisation, monitoring and surveillance of pollution load discharging into river Ganga and its tributaries and also for annual inspection of all Grossly Polluting Industries(GPIs).
Status in Uttarakhand:
Number of grossly polluting industries located in Uttarakhand is 42. Out of which, 7 industries are discharging in the main stem of Ganga and located in the region of Dehradun and rest are located in the subbasin of Ramganga in the region of Kashipur and Udham Singh Nagar
Status in Bihar:
In the state of Bihar, discharge from grossly polluting industries is not so prominent in comparison to other states with respect to river Ganga. The total discharge from industries is 17.3 MLD, out of which 7 MLD is from Barauni refinery.
Status in West Bengal:
In the stretch of West Bengal the river Hooghly (Ganga is named as Hoogly here) receives 87 MLD wastewater from 22 grossly polluting industries. It is pertinent to note that various categories of industries are housed on the banks of Hooghly. . It is observed that the chemical industry discharges 70% of total wastewater generated, followed by Pulp & paper which is 20%. This is a deviation from the trend in Upper and middle Ganga
Sector specific wastewater generation in terms of water consumption
In Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal all together it is observed that average wastewater generation by grossly polluting industries is approx 45% of water consumed by these industries
Key findings & level of pollution by GPIs
- There are 764 grossly polluting industries discharging wastewater to main stem of River Ganga (either directly or through drains) and its two important tributaries Kali-east and Ramganga in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and west Bengal.
- Out of 764 industries, 687 are located in Uttar Pradesh.
- The water consumed by grossly polluting industries is 1123 MLD. Total wastewater generated by grossly polluting industries is 501 MLD. This is 45% (approx) of total water consumed.
- In terms of number of industrial units, the tannery sector is dominating whereas in terms of wastewater generation Pulp & paper sectors dominate followed by chemical and sugar sectors.
- It is observed that GPI in Bihar generate minimum wastewater (19%) in terms of water consumed whereas GPI in West Bengal generate maximum wastewater 75.5% in terms of water consumed followed by Uttarakhand (56.7%) and Uttar Pradesh (39%%).
- In the riverine system Ramanga carries maximum industrial wastewater followed by main stream of river Ganga and Kali-East respectively
