A first in HP: System to monitor Kaushalya water in Parwanoo
Ambika Sharma
Tribune News Service
Solan, November 28
The state’s first surface water monitoring system has been installed over the Kaushalya river in Parwanoo by the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department to keep a check on the quality of water.
It is a tributary of the Ghaggar in Haryana and the NGT had questioned its quality due to its contamination with sewage. Following directions of the tribunal, the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) assisted the IPH Department in installing the system, which will ensure real time monitoring of the river water. The water quality data was now available in the public domain on the websites of the SPCB as well as the IPH Department.
The level of Biological Oxygen Demand, which is a key parametre to measure water quality and the level of faecal coliform, was found to be adverse in this river for several years, though its quality was being monitored by the Central Pollution Control Board under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme since over last decade.
A joint inspection was also conducted by officials from Himachal, Punjab and Haryana after the intervention of the NGT to study the problem where the issue of untreated industrial effluents making its way into the Sukhna Nullah near Parwanoo and Jatanwala Nallan, which also confluences into the Ghaggar, in Kala Amb were raised by the officials from Haryana.
SPCB assistant engineer Atul Parmar said Rs40 lakh had been extended to the IPH Department to install two such systems over the Kaushalya near Parwanoo and over the Markandey at Kala Amb in Sirmaur. The water monitoring system has already been installed over the Kaushalya, while the other was in the process of being set up.
IPH officials have been monitoring the quality of the water for the past two months and no case of contamination has yet surfaced.
IPH executive engineer Sumit Sood said Rs36 lakh had been incurred on installing this system over the Kaushalya along with a radar, which will enable them to measure the depth of water.
Any contamination occurring on account of sewage having been let loose into the water would be known immediately and they could take immediate steps to check it. Since the depth and flow of water can also be measured, they can step-in requisite interventions when the flow declines in the lean summer months to reinvigorate the water supply system.
