Punjab: Land of rivers struggles to check toxins

Chandigarh: After facing fast depletion of the ground water level, Punjab — the land of rivers— is now grappling with the threat of its rivers turning poisonous due to uncontrolled dumping of industrial waste.

The recent death of a large number of fish, including dolphins in the Beas river, has highlighted the decay in rivers that could result into a serious water crisis in the near future.

A large number of dead fish were found floating in the Beas last week after molasses from a sugar factory leaked into the river, has once again pointed towards the deteriorating water quality of rivers in Punjab. Residents noticed the dead fresh water fish in the river in Beas town, about 40 km from Amritsar, following which chief minister Amarinder Singh ordered a probe into the alleged leakage of molasses from a mill into the river that resulted in the fish deaths.  

According to environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, with the rise of pollution in the Beas, it will be deadly to bring the river to meet the requirements of  Jalandhar.

“A few years ago, fish were found dead in the Sutlej as well. The level of pollution was found so high there that even till today aquatic life could not be revived. Things have begun to get worse now in the Beas,” he said.

Slamming the state government, Mr Seechewal said the government has blamed a fund crisis for its failure to get the rivers cleaned from pollutants.

“Does fund scarcity give them a licence to kill people by supplying them contaminated water? Even the sewerage treatment plants (STPs) installed by them are inadequate and are not working according to their capacity,” said Mr Seecehwal.

The situation becomes more alarming as Punjab is also among the states with presence of fluoride, arsenic nitrates and iron in groundwater.

Heavy metals include aluminum, nickel, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury and their enhanced presence in environment is due to increasing levels of domestic and industrial effluents, excessive use of fertilisers and unscientific disposal of toxics, he said.

Despite the fact that the pollution watchdog, in its 2016 report, pointed towards the declining quality of water in state rivers nothing seems to have been done to improve the situation. The report was published after collecting water samples from around 37 locations under the National Water Quality Monitoring (NWQM) programme.

The report mentioned that the water quality of the Sutlej river dips  at the very point where it enters Punjab. At the same location, a few years ago, the quality used to be of best quality that was fit for both drinking and bathing. Now, at the state entry point the water quality is fit only for bathing.