The Central Pollution Control Board made a statement that the Lockdown did not show any major improvent in the quality of water of the rivers. The quality of nineteen rivers were tested and they all posed to be sub-standard. They also stated that three out of four water bodies tested met with the required benchmarks.
The air qualities in some cities had improved, as per the previous tests and reports made by the CPCB. Samples of water had been collected and assessed by different parameters. The consumability of the water for different processes are being tested.
Four rivers met the said standards and seven other rivers showed improvement in the quality of water ever since lockdown. Five rivers faced water contamination ever since the lockdown.
The tests were made on rivers such as Yamuna, Tapi, Krishna, Godavari, Cauvery, Brahmaputra, Brahmani, Pennar, Narmada, Mahanadi, Baitarani, Beas, Swarnarekha, Sutlej, Chambal, and Ganga.
The contamination was mainly due to the dry season, discharge of untreated sewage waste and lack of infrastructure to treat these wastes.
To be fit for bath, a river should have the said standards such as, a BOD of more than three milligram per litre and DO of five milligram per litre. The best pH levels are 6.5 to 8.5 and FC less than two thousand five hundred per hundred millilitre.
Before the lockdown was announced, samples from three hundred and eighty seven monitored locations were taken and more than seventy seven percent of them met the bath criteria.
