River Pollution - Concepts - Chapter 3 Class 9 Geography - Drainage - Geography

River Pollution 

• Th e increasing domestic, municipal, industrial, and agricultural demand for river water has a natural impact on water quality. 
• As a result, more and more water is being drained out of the rivers reducing their volume.
• On the other hand, untreated sewage and industrial effluents are dumped into rivers in large quantities causing river pollution.
• This affects not only the water quality but also the river's ability to self-clean.
• For example, given the adequate streamflow, the Ganga water is able to dilute and assimilate pollution loads within 20 km of large cities.
• However, i ncreasing urbanization and industrialization make this impossible, and the pollution level of many rivers has been rising.
•  Concerns about rising pollution in the rivers, the government, and environmentalists launched various action plans to clean the rivers.

National River Conservation Plan (NRCP)

• The river cleaning program in the country was initiated with the launching of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in 1985. 
• In 1995 , the Ganga Action Plan was expanded to include other rivers as part of the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP). 
• The goal of the NRCP is to improve the water quality of the country's rivers , which are major water sources, through the implementation of pollution abatement work .