Ganga River Pollution in State :

The river Ganges is regarded as one of the most holy and sacred rivers of the world from time immemorial. The evaluation of river water quality is a critical element in the assessment of water resources. The quality/potability of water that is consumed defines the base line of protection against many diseases and infections. The Ganga river water is absolutely unfit for "direct drinking" and only seven spots from where it passes can be consumed after disinfection, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Some stretches in Uttarakhand are marked in green, indicating water can be consumed after disinfection, while the rest of the river water is unfit for drinking or bathing the whole way till it drains into the Bay of Bengal. The six spots which were found fit for consumption under class A- fit for drinking after disinfection- are Bhagirathi at Gangotri, Rudraprayag, Devprayag, Raiwala- Uttarakhand, Rishikesh.

The ministry of environment, which is also involved with the cleaning of the river along with the ministry of water resources, said industrial pollution has been checked as industrial units are now not discharging in the river. On the banks of river Ganga, there are over 1100 industrial units which discharge their waste into the river. Today, not a single industry is discharging black waste in the river. That is the level to which have brought it, the situation was not a "happy" one but efforts were on. Sewage is a big issue. Work is going on and it will take a little while. Every day monitor the water quality.

Critical situation in state :

• Titled ‘Biological Water Quality Assessment of the River Ganga (2017-18)’, the report gives real time data at Real Time Water Quality Monitoring (RTWQM) in 36 locations across the four states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. In Uttarakhand, except one location, all others were polluted. The capacity of the Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Haridwar and Rishikesh was inadequate for handling the waste discharge of the town, resulting in untreated sewage being discharged into the river. The STPs at Devprayag and Rishikesh were also under-utilised due to deficient planning and lack of coordination between the executing agencies. 
• Pre-monsoon levels were found to be the same. During that season, water quality deteriorated at the Bhimgoda Barrage and was moderately polluted at the Jagjeetpur STP, both in Uttarakhand.
• For checking water quality in the pre-monsoon phase, CPCB had initiated biological testing of the Ganga in April 2017 and completed it in June 2017 at 44 RTWQM locations. It conducted post-monsoon phase testing from December 2017 to March 2018. These tests were done after installation of RTWQM stations at 36 locations. The installation was completed in 2017 and service providers had started providing data from all 36 locations with effect from March 2017.
• The state also has not hired any independent agency for monitoring the state of sanitation of the rural areas following the guidelines of Swachh Bharat Mission (gramin). Rather, the state used the officials of the Swajal Project for the physical verification of the toilets and cleanliness of the rural areas. The officials of the project look after the water supply projects in the state. 
• Ganga water was having unusually fast regenerating capacity by bringing down biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) owing to the presence of large amount of well-adopted microorganisms. Analysis of river Ganga water at Rishikesh using WQI at Rishikesh for drinking, recreation and other purpose using eight water quality parameters: turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD), free carbon dioxide (free CO2), total solids (TS), total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) revealed that the water is not suitable for drinking purpose.

Government efforts :

• Namami Gange Programme is an integrated conservation mission with a budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of Ganga.The State Program Management Group (SPMG) for Namami Ganga has been the nodal agency for developing, executing and monitoring projects aimed at rejuvenating and keeping Ganga clean. SPMG has been created under the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of Uttarakhand.
• The schemes were related to sewerage network, managing industrial effluents, waste management, community participation, cleaning of Ghats, tree planting and IEC activities at village and town level. The SPMG identified 15 priority towns in Uttarakhand for the purpose of implementing these schemes. Uttarkashi also featured in the list along with other towns like Badrinath, Joshimath, Srinagar, Rishikesh and Haridwar.
• A task force will be trained by the Ministry of Defence called the Ganga Task Force who will not only help the administration in controlling the crowd but also stop individuals or industries from polluting the river. Ganga Task Force has been approved by the Cabinet under the public participation component of the Namami Gange Programme.
•  A draft bill named ‘The National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management, 2017’  has been proposed. Subsequently a four-member panel was set up by the government to review this and come up with suggestions. Right now the revised draft is reviewed by different ministries.
• The bill says that any offence under this upcoming Act will be non-bailable. The long list of offences and penalties punishable under the draft bill include spoiling or defacing ghats or stairs or throwing any polluting matter in the river. Other offences include stone quarrying, commercial fishing without permission, deforesting hill slopes or other sensitive areas, withdrawing groundwater for organised consumption through tube wells or industrial needs, among many others. These offences are punishable with imprisonment up to two years or fine of up to Rs 50,000 or both.
• For rejuvenation and development of the Ganga, the state government, in July 2014, forwarded to the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, the State Action Plan (SAP) for complete sanitation coverage of Gram Panchayats (GPs) located in the Ganga basin. SAP targets to make 265 villages in 132 GPs in seven districts located along the Ganga and its tributaries as open defecation free (ODF) by the year 2019.