NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) first-ever ‘Performance Audit of Water Pollution in India’ report says that despite 26 years implementation of programmes to control pollution, water in our rivers remains critically polluted. The report says that the situation is alarming in the 14 major and 55 minor and several hundreds rivers as only 10 percent of waste water generated from millions of litres of sewage, industrial and agricultural waste is being treated before dumping into water bodies.The report, tabled in Parliament on Friday, had strongly recommended that the government should take immediate steps to create a specific water pollution policy, which would incorporate prevention of pollution, treatment of polluted water and ecological restoration of polluted water bodies. The report says the government has given low priority to water pollution issues and the resources available for prevention of pollution, treatment of polluted water and ecological restoration of polluted water bodies are woefully inadequate. This situation is further aggravated by poor financial management in the implementation of projects. There is no official agency in the country to assess the risk of polluted water to health and environment, the report says. With the exception of the Ganga in certain stretches, all the other rivers are plagued by high levels of organic pollution, low level of oxygen availability for aquatic organisms and increased level of bacteria, protozoa and viruses, which cause illnesses. Similar is the situation of the lakes, which are being choked up from weeds proliferation.
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