Water Quality During Maha Kumbh Was Fit For Bathing Says New Report

The Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) submitted to the National Green Tribunal has said that as per statistical analysis, the water quality during the recently-concluded Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj was fit for bathing.

CPCB report says the statistical was necessary because of different data in the sample collected from the same locations across different dates and on different locations on the same day, because of which these did not reflect the overall river water quality throughout river stretch.  

The report dated February 28 and uploaded on the tribunal’s website on March 7 said the board had conducted water monitoring twice a week from January 12 onwards. Including on auspicious bathing days, at five locations on Ganga river and two locations on Yamuna river.

The report said there is a significant variability in the values on various parameters, viz pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and fecal coliform count (FC) for the samples taken from the same location on different dates. The values of the afore-mentioned parameters also vary at different locations for the samples collected on the same day.

The DO or the amount of oxygen in water, BOD, which measures the amount of oxygen needed to break down organic matter in water, and FC, a marker of sewage contamination, are key indicators of water quality.

The report said that an expert committee examined the issue of “variability in data” and said that “the data represents a snapshot of water quality at a specific location and time and may vary significantly depending upon factors such as upstream anthropogenic activities (human actions), rate of flow, depth of sampling, time of sampling, river current and mixing of currents, sampling location and such other multiple factors.