• Recently the National Green Tribunal’s order imposing a Rs.50-crore fine on the Karnataka government and a Rs.25 crore on the Bengaluru city’s municipal government for negligence that led to the city’s lakes sporting flotillas of toxic froth and even catching fire in the case of Bellandur is the right step which was needed in environmental governance.

Reasons behind the deteriorating situation of water bodies in India :-

• Karnataka:-
  1. In March 2017, the Bengaluru municipality had sanctioned illegal construction around a lake, in violation of an earlier NGT order.
  2. Projects were being sanctioned without ensuring preventive, restorative and controlling measures. Failure of state and the local governments to act has led to rampant encroachment i.e.., 98% of lakes suffer from this and this has choked off recharging and the unchecked flow of untreated waste water.
  3. Of the city’s 125 lakes covered in a study by the Centre for Ecological Studies at IISc, only four were found to be in a fair state while 25 were either dying or dead.
• Non-profit water pollution monitor WaterAid estimates nearly 80% of surface water in India—rivers, lakes, canals, etc to be highly polluted, mostly due to untreated domestic sewage flowing into these water bodies from urban areas and, in the case of some rivers, due to untreated effluent from factories.
• According to the recent finding of the Central Pollution Control Board that the number of critically polluted segments of India’s rivers has risen to 351 from 302 two years ago is a strong indictment of the departments responsible for environmental protection.
• The data show that the plethora of laws enacted to regulate waste management and protect water quality are simply not working.
• The study by CPCB also underscores the failure of many national programmes run by the Centre for river conservation, preservation of wetlands, and water quality monitoring. 
• The failed efforts to control pollution are all too evident in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Assam, which account for a third of the degraded river segments. Their problems are worsened by the poor infrastructure available in a large number of cities and towns located near rivers.
• Managing sewage requires steady funding of treatment plants for all urban agglomerations that discharge their waste into rivers, and also reliable power supply
• A primary cause is the quantity of sewage generated by cities and townsalong polluted stretches .
• Country’s waterways have also suffered badly in recent years, with vast quantities of municipal and industrial waste discharged into them every day.
• Relentless dumping of waste and release of untreated effluentsis posing a serious threat to the over 50 rivers in the country.  Ganga has been dammed, over-drained and sullied by sewageas well as industrial waste from the numerous towns and cities which dot the river bank.
• Government  has  focussed on cleaning the Ganges but there has been little progress so far on a project which has defeated successive administrations, despite substantial funding.

Way forward:-

• The green tribunal incentivised the states to act against polluters in a “polluter pays” model. Hefty fines, for lax state and local governments as well as private sector polluters, will go a long way in ensuring action against pollution.
• CPCB should be reporting more frequently on pollution, and carrying out intensive measures through State Pollution Control Boards to eliminate pollutants, starting with sewage and industrial effluents.
• Low priority is accorded to enforcement of laws by the SPCBs and Pollution Control Committees. So the immediate plan should be to expand the supply of treatment plants. Sustained civil society pressure on governments is vital to ensure that this is done in a time-bound manner.
• On the industrial side, the plan to bring all liquid effluent discharge from textile units and tanneries to zero has to be pursued vigorously, giving industries the assistance to help them choose the best technologies for the recovery of waste water for reuse.
• These measures are urgently needed to revive India’s many dying rivers, protect its agriculture, and prevent serious harm to public health from contaminated water.

• All state governments must make it mandatory to have rain water harvesting techniques in government as well as private buildings and make roof water and surface harvesting mandatory.
• Include embankments, embankment roads, and roads on either side of the river need to be developed as greenways, with walkways, cycle paths and recreational centres to facilitate the link between citizens and the river.
• Rejuvenation of wetlands:- These wetlands can store millions of gallons of flood water and recharge ground water and also enhance the river flow during lean period
• Reforestation and protection of forested catchments:- Forested catchments reduce soil erosion and siltation of the river, they regulate stream flows and micro climate. A protected catchment automatically means lesser silt in rivers
• Vegetated and protected riparian banks.These protect the river banks, reduce erosion and maintain water quality.