Water pollution inventory of inland water bodies in Gujarat and assessment of present sewage treatment facility in state
Student name: Ms Shikha Shah
Guide: Dr Bakim Chandra Oinam
Year of completion: 2012
Host Organisation: Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), Gujarat
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr S S Rajput and Dr P K Singh
Abstract: Gujarat though prosperous in fresh water resources has most varied regional distribution of
water bodies with erratic rainfall and complex geo-hydrological conditions. The longest
coastline of 1600 km has aggravated the degradation of water quality with complex phenomenon
of salinity ingress. Apart from natural limitation, Gujarat’s available inland surface and ground
water bodies has to meet the escalating demands of industrial, agricultural and domestic sector.
Uncontrolled disposal of domestic sewage, agricultural runoff and industrial effluents in water
bodies has already aggravated the pollution levels in water bodies beyond imagination. With
such swelling pressures, regular monitoring and sustaining the quality of available fresh water
bodies has become vital for survival of ecosystem. To meet this objective, analysis of key
pollution parameters mostly induced by anthropogenic activities like biological oxygen demand,
chemical oxygen demand, total coliform and total dissolved solids was done for rivers, lakes,
ponds, reservoirs and wells in Gujarat. Status and trends of changes for each of these
parameters for last two decades was studied based on total number of monitoring done each year
under Gujarat Pollution Control Board. Study helped in identification of most polluted water
bodies and sources of pollution was recognized with help of literature review and reliable media
articles. At maximum polluted stations, untreated industrial effluent and domestic sewage
discharge as a result of non-functional or partially functional effluent and sewage treatment
plants was the reason. Organic pollution was found to be predominant in rivers, lakes and ponds.
Rivers in Ahmadabad and Mehsana district, particularly Sabarmati river stretch, was found to be
highly degraded by coliform bacteria making water unfit even for bathing. Also, evaluation of
domestic sewage treatment facility in the State was done on the basis of urban local bodies
present in each district. Only forty percent districts and seven percent urban local bodies were
found to have formed functional sewage treatment plants as on May 2010. Except Kutch district,
local bodies in all the other districts were disposing their sewage into surface water bodies.
Keywords: water quality, pollution parameters, pollution trends, sewage disposal, sewage
treatment facility
