Action Plan for Brahmaputra River Priority-IV Environment & Forest Department Government of Assam ACTION PLAN FOR BRAHMAPUTRA Priority-IV 1. Basic information about the River The river originates from the Kailash ranges of Himalayas at an elevation of 5300 M. After flowing through Tibet it enters India through Arunachal Pradesh and flows through Assam and Bangladesh before it joins Bay of Bengal. The average width of Brahmaputra is 5.46 Km. The average annual discharge is about 20,000 cumec and average dry season discharge is 4,420 cumec. The river slope is very steep till it enters India. A drop of about 4800 M is achieved in a length at about 1700 Km in China (Tibet). This average slope of about 2.82 m/Km gets reduced to about 0.1m/Km in Assam valley. Due to this sudden flattening of river slope, the river becomes braided in nature in the Assam valley. During its course in Assam valley from Kobo to Dhubri the river is joined by about 20 (twenty) important tributaries on its North bank and 13 (thirteen) on its South bank. Joining of these tributaries bringing high sediment load activates braiding. All the tributaries of the valley area are rain fed and foam up with rain. The precipitation here is mainly due to South West monsoon. Heavy precipitation occurs here from May to September. It travels a distance of 750 KM throughout the entire state of Assam. 1 (i) Polluted river stretch/length The length of the polluted stretch of Brahmaputra river is 373 kms out of 750 kms of the total stretch (Fig 1) and the stretch identified as polluted is from Bogibeel to Sualkuchi. The entire stretch of Brahmaputra river covers eleven (11) monitoring locations under NWMP. However, the BOD level was found to be exceeding 3mg/L in only six (06) monitoring stations on few occasions. The six polluted monitoring stations are presented at Table V – X Fig 1: Polluted stretches in river Brahmaputra River 2. Background: In compliance of the direction of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi in the matter of news published in ‘The Hindu’ authored by Jacob Koshy, Titled ‘More river stretches are now critically polluted CPCB’, Government of Assam constituted River Rejuvenation Committee (RRC) vide memorandum673/2018 dated 19/12/2018 for effective abatement of pollution, rejuvenation, protection and management of the identified polluted stretches, for bringing the polluted river stretches to be fit at least for bathing purposes within six months 3. Basis of Action Plan for polluted stretch of Brahmaputra River The action plan for rejuvenation, protection and management of the identified polluted river stretch of Assam has been prepared based on the following As per direction of Hon’ble National Green Tribunal, Principal Bench, New Delhi in the matter of news published in ‘The Hindu’ authored by Jacob Koshy, Titled ‘More river stretches are now critically polluted CPCB’ Comprehensive report on Prevention and Control of Pollution in River Hind on: An Action Plan for Rejuvenation’ [Submitted in compliance to Hon’ble National Green Tribunal] 4. Components of Action Plan (a) Industrial Pollution Control Inventorisation of industries Categories of industry and effluent quality Treatment of effluents, compliance with standards and mode of disposal of effluents Regulatory regime. (b)Identification, Channelization, Treatment and Utilization of Treated Domestic Sewage Identification of towns in the catchment of river Town-wise Estimation of quantity of sewage generated and existing sewage treatment capacities to arrive at the gap between the sewage generation and treatment capacities; Identification of towns for installing sewerage system and sewage treatment plants. Storm water drains now carrying sewage and sullage joining river and interception and diversion of sewage to STPs, Treatment and disposal of septage and controlling open defecation. (b) River catchment/Basin Management-Controlled ground water extraction and periodic quality assessment Periodic assessment of groundwater resources and regulation of ground water extraction by industries particularly in over exploited and critical zones/blocks. Ground water re-charging /rain water harvesting Periodic ground water quality assessment and remedial actions in case of contaminated groundwater tube wells/bore wells or hand pumps. Assessment of the need for regulating use of ground water for irrigation purposes. (d)Flood Plain Zone Regulating activities in flood plain zone. Management of Municipal, Plastic, Hazardous, Bio-medical and Electrical and Electronic wastes. Greenery development- Plantation plan. (e) Ecological/Environmental Flow (E-Flow) Issues relating to E-Flow Irrigation practices (d) Such other issues which may be found relevant for restoring water quality to the prescribed standards. 5. Action Plan as per direction of Hon’ble NGT The components to be discussed in the action plan for rejuvenation, protection and management of identified polluted stretch of Brahmaputra river are as follows 5.1. Industrial Pollution Control Few classified industrial units in the form of Health care Units, Hotels, road side eateries etc. are observed with infrastructural facilities (ETPs, STPs) in the periphery of two (02) sampling locations of the polluted river stretch of Brahmaputra river which are presented at Table I and II. Out of six polluted stretches, in only two locations at Dhenukhana pahar and Kacharighat, few small scale industrial units are observed within the radius of the polluted stretch. Major towns like Jorhat and Dibrugarh are situated around 15 kms and 18 kms away from the sampling locations of Bogibeel and Nimatighat polluted stretch, hence the industrial impact in the river is found to be negligible. Moreover, no industrial units are located in the Chandrapur and Sualkuchi polluted stretch. The nearest towns and localities of the industrial waste polluting stretches are identified as Tezpur at Dhenukhana stretch and Fancy bazar, Panbazar and Kachari at Kacharighat stretch. It is also observed that Guwahati city is located on the bank of Kacharighat, but the entire city is not situated on the bank of the polluted stretch. The localities identified to be situated on the bank of Kacharighat stretch are Fancy Bazar, Panbazar and Kachari which are localities of Guwahati city and Rajaduar, Madhyam khanda under North Guwahati circle. Moreover, action plan for Bharalu river which is a tributary of Brahmaputra river under Priority I addressing the Guwahati city has already been submitted and approved by CPCB. It is also observed that none of the small scale units of the identified polluted stretch discharge their effluent directly into the river stretch as they have captive ETP for treatment of their effluent. Further directions were issued by the PCBA to all the industrial units which has failed to comply with the discharged norms. Moreover, the Board has also issued direction to build their own set up in their premises which do not have STP/ETP Table I: Industrial details as per the following of Brahmaputra river at Dhenukhana Pahar polluted stretch Sl. Name of the Category Total Water Waste Water Without ETPs CETPs OCEMS Gaps Proposed No Industry Consumption (KLD) /waste consent/Direction CETP Generation s issued (KLD) Functional Non- Functional Ground Surface Water Water 1 M/S Sunshine Fibre Red 2.0 ZLD Consent applied Functional Nil Industry, Tezpur 2 M/S Brahmaputra Orange 2.0 ZLD Consent applied Functional Nil Paper Pvt. Ltd, Tezpur 3 M/S Star Paper Mill, 2.5 ZLD Consent applied Functional Nil Nil Nil Nil Tezpur 4 M/S Sonitpur Solvex 2.0 ZLD Without consent Functional Nil Ltd, Parua Chariali, Tezpur Total 8.5 Nil - - - Nil Table II: Industrial details as per the following of Brahmaputra river at Kacharighat polluted stretch Sl. Name of the Industry Category Total Water Waste Without consent/ ETPs CETPs OCEMS Gaps Proposed No. Consumption/ Generatio Directions issued CETP (KLD) n (KLD) Ground Supply Functional Non- Water water Functional 1 Mahendra Mohan Red Nil 100 80 - Functional - Choudhury Hospital, Nil Panbazar, Guwahati-1 2 Jalan Bros. (India) Pvt. Ltd., Orange 3.0 Nil 1.5 Closure Notice Functional - MG Road, Fancy Bazar, issued Guwahati 3 Rapicure Diagnostic Centre, Nil 0.3 0.24 Functional - Nil Panbazar, Guwahati-1 4 Sarvoday Health Care, 1.0 Nil 0.8 Functional - Nil Nil Nil Nil Panbazar, Guwahati-1 5 Brahmaputra Diagnostic, Closure Notice - - - Panbazar, Guwahati-1 issued 6 Diagnostic Lab, Guwahati-1 Closure Notice - - - issued Total 4.0 100.3 82.54 - - - Nil Following are the suggestions for control of industrial pollution control The industry that will extract groundwater for manufacturing process should not operate unless they possess valid permission for groundwater extraction from Central Ground Water Authority. No industries should discharge their effluent directly into drains without treatment, rather they should reuse their treated effluent/sewage. Direction to be issued to the units which are not complying to the effluent discharge norms as per Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, by PCBA for ensuring compliance to the discharge norms. 6.1. Major towns located on the bank a) Bogibeel: Dibrugarh is the major town located in the bank of river Brahmaputra at around 18 kms upstream of the sampling station. Medium sized villages viz: Bogibeel gaon, Lengapathar gaon, Hapekheti gaon and Walkhabi gaon no.1 of Disbrugarh district and Kareng gaon, Garmara Chapori, Dambuk kalabari, Merchapori and Amguri bali of Dhemaji district under Sissiborgaon tehsil are situated in the catchment of the Bogibeel polluted stretch. b) Nimatighat: The nearest major town from the sampling point is Jorhat. However, the Nimatighat stretch is located around 15 kms upstream from the Jorhat town. The name of the villages identified in the catchment of the Bogibeel polluted stretch are Kumar gaon, Makori khuti gaon and Kobortta gaon. c) Dhenukhana Pahar: Tezpur is the major town belonging to Sonitpur district is located in the Bank of the river.
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