Doodh Ganga continues to haunt 7 lakh population in Srinagar?

Few days back the Legislative House Committee on Environment, headed by Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, visited the Doodh Ganga water treatment plant at Kralpora. This plant supplies drinking water to seven lakh population in around one dozen areas of Srinagar uptown; which includes Humhama, Pirbagh, Hyderpora, Rawalpora, Sanatnagar, Rangreth, Kralpora, Gopalpora, Mochwa, Baghe Mehtab, Chanapora, Gulshan Nagar, Natipora, Rambagh, Solina and adjoining areas. Along with Tarigami four members of the committee, namely Dr Sajjad Shafi-MLA Uri, Irshad Rasool Kar-MLA Sopore, Mushtaq Guroo-MLA Chanapora, and Perzada Feroz-MLA Devsar, had also come to visit water treatment plant at Kralpora. The local MLA of Chadoora Ali Mohammad Dar also joined the meeting along with respected citizens of Kralpora and adjoining areas.

The senior officers of PHE Jal Shakti Department including Chief Engineer Taj Mohammad Chowdhary, Executive Engineer Water Works Division Srinagar Ajaz Rafiq, AEE Iqra Amin and other senior officers from different departments were present on the occasion. The Regional Director JK Pollution Control Committee Abhijeet Joshi and Regional Director Environment Ecology and Remote Sensing Mr Rafi Bhat were also present during the visit of the environment committee team. This author, who is also a petitioner in the Doodh Ganga case at National Green Tribunal-NGT, also appeared before the committee.

Chairman of the House Committee M Y Tarigami spoke in detail about the mandate of the environment house committee and said he had come to visit the site on Mushtaq Ahmad Guroo’s request who is the MLA of Chanapora. He, along with other members of committee, interacted with officers of PHE Jal Shakti Department including the in-charge engineers of Doodh Ganga water treatment plant. M Y Tarigami said that there should be no compromise at all on supply of clean drinking water to people and officials who are found responsible in supplying contaminated water would be taken to task.

MLA Chadoora Ali Mohammad Dar who also joined the meeting raised his serious concern about the supply of contaminated water for weeks by Doodh Ganga plant as the alum used to check turbidity was out of stock. Noted citizens of the area including Dr Showkat Dar-President Auqaf Committee Dharambugh Kralpora, Dr Rouf Malik, a noted development expert, Farooq Ahmad, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, Liaqat Ahmad & Raashid Ashraf also raised their concern before the committee. Dr Rouf Malik suggested that Information Education & Communication-IEC work should be taken up and local imams be involved in this campaign. President Markazi Aufaq Committee Jamia Masjid Dharambug Kralpora Dr Showkat Dar also alleged that they were being supplied contaminated water for weeks and on many occasions the water supply was cut as water was highly turbid due to non- application of alum.

This author has taken the matter of pollution in Doodh Ganga to the National Green Tribunal-NGT around 4 years back. Not only the local population, right from Barzulla to Branwar, is polluting Doodh Ganga, but authorities at helm like Srinagar Municipal Corporation-SMC, Municipal Committee Chadoora and Geology & Mining Department are also involved in destruction of Doodh Ganga and all of them have been penalized heavily by NGT in my case.

Water analysis report

On the direction of National Green Tribunal-NGT, the Pollution Control Committee submitted the water quality profile of Doodh Ganga around 2 years back. The water sampling of Doodh Ganga was done between January to July 2023 at multiple locations which revealed that the water quality at Chadoora Town was not fit for even bathing leave aside using the water for drinking purpose? The same water is lifted at Kralpora Doodh Ganga Water Treatment Plant which is located 6 km from Chadoora (downstream) and then supplied to 7 lakh population of Srinagar. How can chlorination and alum clear this highly polluted water? On the basis of these reports the NGT again imposed Rs 35 Crores penalty on Govt in October 2022 just within 7 months of imposing Rs 3 crores penalty on SMC, MC Chadoora and Mining Department Budgam.

How can chlorination or use of alum make this dirty water fit for consumption? The water analysis report of J&K Pollution Control Committee says that Doodh Ganga water at Chadoora town and its downstream contains ammoniacal nitrogen, high concentrated sulphates plus calcium and magnesium.

The water quality report submitted by J&K Pollution Control Committee to National Green Tribunal-NGT clearly indicates that primary water quality in Doodh Ganga is bad as per the criteria for bathing water which was published in the Gazette of India on September 25th 2000. As per the said criteria, the recommended fecal coliform count in bathing water is 500 colony-forming units (CFU) per milliliter, with a maximum permissible limit of 2500 CFU/ml. These limits are established to accommodate variations in environmental conditions, such as seasonal changes and fluctuations in flow conditions. However, for drinking purposes, the acceptable fecal coliform count is zero, as specified by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in IS 10500:2012 (PM/ 10500/ 1 October 2020).

It is worthwhile to mention that the fecal coliform counts at all sampling sites exceed the acceptable limits. Specifically the water quality at Chadoora exceeds the desirable limit for bathing water by nearly three times, indicating a significant level of contamination. Additionally, at Tengpora and Old Barzulla sites, the contamination levels are exceptionally high, being nearly 20000 CFU/ml.

Conclusion 

The Water Treatment Plant Doodh Ganga supplied contaminated water for weeks together recently as there was shortage of alum. This led to supply of turbid water from the plant and on many occasions the water supply was cut as well. This is a known fact and the Environment Committee needs to take action against the senior officers who failed to procure enough quantity of alum. The Environment Committee also needs to visit the Doodh Ganga stream right from Barzulla to Branwar and look at the condition of water? Hundreds of drains carrying sewerage and faecal waste enters this stream and how can we expect the water will get clean and fit for drinking after being processed at Water Treatment Plant Kralpora? Authorities have to address the root cause of this problem and not focus on cosmetic solutions done at Doodh Ganga plant Kralpora? Rs 140 Crores have been already sanctioned by Govt on NGT’s direction for setting up of Sewage Treatment Plants-STPs. The Environment Committee must also summon Chief Engineer UEED and ask him why there is a delay in the construction work for the last 2 years ?

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow and Chairman J&K RTI Movement