Water bodies under NWPM: PCB website offers no details

JAMMU: The time to time updates on pollution-related activities and information for the public interest is missing on the official website of Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board including one of the major aspects ‘water pollution’ of which current status under the National Water Monitoring Network is yet to be revised for the year 2019.
J&K Pollution Control Board is one of the prestigious institutions of the government-run bodies and its role in making masses aware on lot many pollution-related concerns supposed to keep the official website up to date on a priority basis.
An official in the J&K PCB here told ‘The News Now’, “the website data is undoubtedly updated on annual basis but may be due to COVID-19, it could not be done.”
He apprehended that non-compilation of detailed record as it is required for the viewers might not have been ready.
The official website http://jkspcb.nic.in shows the status of water bodies in Jammu region monitored under NWMP of the year 2018, status of River Tawi on a Quarterly basis- for the first Quarter 2017 and status of River Tawi for the year 2016 (mean of Four Quarters), but of the year 2019 is missing.
A senior official said, the water quality management in India is accomplished under the provision of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974. The basic objective of this Act is to maintain and restore the wholesomeness of natural aquatic resource by prevention and control of pollution.
“In order to assess the nature and extent of pollution and measures needed to control it. Water Quality Monitoring is an important prerequisite,” he said and added that the objectives being evaluated Water Quality trend over a period of time, assess the assimilative capacity of water body thereby reducing cost on pollution control, assess the fitness of water for different uses, rational Planning of Pollution Control Strategies and their prioritization and evaluate the effectiveness of pollution control measures already in existence.
“Al these updates are mandatory to get updated on the website so that they are easily accessible to the people,” he said.
He further said that Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Delhi in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board, Jammu has established water quality monitoring network at 27 stations covering five Districts of Jammu region.
The network covers Six Rivers (Tawi, Chenab, Banganga, Basantar, Ujh, Devak at Udhampur and Utterbehni), Two Lakes (Mansar and Surinsar), Two Wells (Dug Well, Ghagwal and Tubewell at SICOP, Kathua) One Pond (Maladhar Talab Hatli, Kathua) and a Wetland (Gharana, R S Pura).
“Water Quality monitoring is done on a quarterly basis in surface water bodies while on Half-yearly basis in groundwater station,” he said adding that water samples are being analyzed for 24 Physico-Chemical Parameters for water samples apart from Field Observation.
Weather, Approximate Depth of main stream, Colour, Odour, Visible Effluent Discharge, Human activities around station, Station Detail, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen(DO) are the field observations needed to be done besides Core Parameters like pH, Conductivity, Biological Oxygen Demand(BOD), Nitrate-N, Nitrite-N.


Updated On 9/23/2020 10:56:01 AM