5 quality monitoring stations for Yamuna, Ghaggar soon

Will assess pollution level and contribution of states to it

qUOTE: “The tendering process is underway and we are hoping that the stations will be installed by December-end. The approximate cost of each station will be over Rs50 lakh”

— S Narayanan, Member Secretary, HSPCB

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, September 8

To assess the pollution level in the Yamuna and the Ghaggar, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has started setting up real-time water quality monitoring stations (RTWQMS).

The Centre Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had recently launched the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWQMP) and decided to install the real-time monitoring stations to assess the quality of the water bodies with the support of the state pollution boards.

Now, the HSPCB has decided to set up five such stations — three for the Yamuna in Yamunanagar, Panipat and Sonepat districts and two stations for the Ghaggar at Panchkula and Sirsa.

Sources said the HSPCB would observe several parameters, including pH, turbidity, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, dissolved ammonia, biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, nitrates and chlorides in the river water online.

The stations will be operational in a real-time mode and the central station will be able to access the data from any of these stations.

S Narayanan, Member Secretary, HSPCB, told The Tribune that they had started the work on the process to install the RTWQMS.

The board has decided to install RTWQMS on the basis of “3+2 formula” — three stations on the Yamuna and two on the Ghaggar.

The stations would help them to identify the places where the Yamuna and Ghaggar rivers were more polluted and the contribution of the states to the pollution of the water bodies, he added.

Notably, the pollution level in the Yamuna has been a bone of contention between Delhi and Haryana. The Delhi Government has blamed Haryana for polluting the Yamuna several times.

“We will install the five stations as a pilot project,” said Narayanan.

“The places finalised for the installation of the RTWQMS are Majri Chowk in Panchkula, Ottu Weir in Sirsa, Tajewala on Hathnikund Barrage in Yamunagar, Yamuna Bridge in Panipat and the Eastern Peripheral Way on the Delhi border in Sonepat,” he said. “Tendering process is underway and we are hoping that the stations will be installed by December-end,” Narayanan said.

Though the final cost of the RTWQMS would be clear after the tender process, the approximate cost of each station would be over Rs50 lakh, he said.