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Status of water quality in India - 2012

The water quality management is one of the many environmental problems in India. Increasing demand of water for human consumption, irrigation and growing industrial activities has impacted the water quality of rivers due to declining flows in rivers and depleting water levels of subsurface resources. Water quality data from 2500 water quality monitoring stations, located on all important rivers, lakes including wells for groundwater assessment form the basis of National Water Monitoring Programme (NWMP). The data collected during 2012 indicates that organic pollution, as indicated by Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BODS) and Coliform counts, continue to be the major water quality issues. This is mainly due to discharge of untreated domestic wastewater from the urban centres of the country. The municipal corporations at large are not able to treat increasing load of municipal sewage flowing into water bodies. Secondly the receiving water bodies also do not have adequate water for dilution. Therefore, the oxygen demand and bacterial pollution is increasing day by day.

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