DEHRADUN: The five states along the Ganga’s main stream lack the capacity to treat nearly one-third of the sewage they generate, according to data provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the Right to Information Act.
The states—Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal—generate around 11,785 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage.
Their total installed sewage-treatment capacity, however, stands at 8,026.685 MLD, leaving a shortfall of 3,758.815 MLD, or nearly 32%.
Noida-based RTI activist Amit Gupta, who obtained the data, said the figures raised serious questions about the progress and ground-level implementation of the Centre’s flagship Namami Gange programme.
“The CPCB data is alarming. Despite years of sustained efforts and significant investment in rejuvenating the Ganga, a substantial gap remains between sewage generation and the capacity available to treat it,” Gupta told TNIE.
The state-wise figures reveal wide disparities. Jharkhand has the largest treatment-capacity deficit at 67.4%, followed by Bihar at 52.3% and West Bengal at 50%.
Uttarakhand has a gap of 22.3%, while Uttar Pradesh fares comparatively better, with a deficit of 12.1 per cent. Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal together account for nearly 79% of the overall treatment-capacity shortfall across the five states, according to Gupta’s analysis of the CPCB figures.
Gupta, however, cautioned that the capacity deficit did not necessarily mean the entire 3,758.815 MLD of sewage was being discharged untreated into the Ganga.
“Installed capacity and actual treatment are two different things. The data nevertheless raises fundamental questions: Where does the additional sewage go, how much of it is treated through other arrangements, and how efficiently are the existing sewage-treatment plants functioning?” he said.
The CPCB monitors the Ganga’s water quality at 112 locations. The latest official assessment indicates that polluted river stretches continue to exist in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
Gupta said the focus must extend beyond constructing sewage-treatment plants to ensuring that sewer networks intercept wastewater and that treatment facilities operate at their designed capacity.
“I have been following river-pollution issues for a long time. Unfortunately, untreated sewage continues to pollute the Ganga,” he said.
Referring to Uttarakhand, Gupta claimed that several sewage-treatment plants remained underutilised even as the state had not achieved complete treatment of the sewage it generated.
“The success of the Clean Ganga mission depends not merely on installed infrastructure, but on ensuring that every possible sewage source is intercepted, treated and prevented from entering the river untreated,” he added.