Real pictures of stinking and sluggish Sabarmati river

26 Mar 2013, 07:24 AM IST

1 / 10 Real pictures of stinking and sluggish Sabarmati river By Paul John, TNN



The Sabarmati River — stinking, sluggish and black as tar — runs between the living, breathing world and that of the dead. Beyond the promenades and the glitzy riverfront banks, the reality of the Sabarmati River is bleak.

2 / 10 Indifference of a city to Sabarmati river Just 500 metres downstream of the Vasna barrage, where the mirage of the riverfront ends, the city vomits its nauseating expulsions. The stench makes one wonder about the extent of the perverse indifference of a city to its river — its mother.

3 / 10 City struggling to deal with pollution in Sabarmati Despite numerous regulations put in place over the years and the imposition of penalties worth hundreds of crores, the city is still struggling to deal with the pollution in the Sabarmati. The Sabarmati riverfront has attracted floating restaurants, gardens and river rides.

4 / 10 Sabarmati river was unfit for aquatic life The brunt of the city’s pollution is borne by thousands of people who live along the 21 kilometre stretch of the river in the downstream. In a study conducted by the LD Engineering College last year, it was found that the river was unfit for aquatic life with its dissolved oxygen being zero, even 28 km downstream.

5 / 10 People are exposed to faecal bacteria Right from Kamod village to Saroda in the downstream, people — especially children — are exposed to faecal bacteria, faecal streptococci, clostridium perfringens bacteria and toxic chemicals.

6 / 10 Last year, GPCB found faecal coliform bacteria On December 1 last year, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) found faecal coliform (F.Coli) bacteria — which is present in human and animal excreta — in the riverfront to be 43 per litre, which increases to lethal 1,400/ lt at the Vasna-Narol bridge.

7 / 10 Sabarmati: Third most polluted river in the country Back in 2010, the river was branded as the third most polluted in the country by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), with the highest volumes of F.Coli in the country. F.Coli in these stretches was found to be 2.8 million MPN (most probable number) in every 100 ml of the river.

8 / 10 Fecal coliform bacteria beyond permissible limit In 2011, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) conducted random checks of pollution indicators of the river and declared in early 2012 that “fecal coliform and total coliform (T.Coli) bacteria were beyond permissible limit.”

9 / 10 Biological oxygen demand also increased by 290% The report also said that biological oxygen demand (BOD) — which indicates the concentration of biological microorganisms in water — had increased by 290%; F.Coli by 860%; and T.Coli by 480%.



Moreover, one should factor in the millions of litres of “treated” effluent water of 3,365 units of Vatva, Odhav, and Naroda pumped into the river by the GIDC Megapipeline at the Vasna-Narol Bridge.