Sewage flows into Jhelum, govt looks the other way

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, July 28

The Jhelum, which originates in south Kashmir and traverses through Srinagar before entering South Asia’s one of the largest freshwater lakes Wullar, plays a major role in the socio-economic scenario of Kashmir.

The water body is an important source of hydropower, irrigation and drinking water in Kashmir. But due to the neglect of successive governments in Kashmir, the river is under threat due to pollution and unabated encroachments.

Close to the old secretariat, located on the western bank of the river, heaps of polythene, garbage and pipes dropping sewage into the water body is a common sight. Experts say the government has failed to take effective measures to control the pollution in the river, which is infamously known as the biggest exit route of the sewage in Kashmir.

As the focus of the government and environmentalists continued on the conservation of Dal Lake, the Jhelum was neglected. Over the years, at least seven sewage treatment plants (STPs) were established around Dal Lake, but none for the Jhelum to cater to the sewage emanating from houses, hotels and houseboats to be thrown into it without treatment. The Jhelum, which snakes through Srinagar, receives huge quantities of solid as well as liquid sewage from major portions of the city.

“We have become used to pollute Jhelum. In the absence of a proper drainage system and STPs, we have to put sewage directly into the water body,” said a resident Muhammad Amin of Habba Kadal, a locality situated on the banks of the Jhelum in Srinagar.

He says the sewage coming out from houses located on the river banks directly goes into the water body. “Mostly, the sewage goes out through small drains into bigger drains and then into the Jhelum, which is the biggest drain of Kashmir,” Amin lamented.

The Jhelum has witnessed heavy pollution over the decades, with tonnes of solid and liquid waste from home toilets being directly fed into it in Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar and Baramulla district without any treatment, said an officer at the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB).

As a majority of the people in Kashmir are dependent on the Jhelum for drinking water, the pollution in the water body has become the reason for many diseases. It has also adversely affected the aquatic life of the river. Several thousand fish came to the surface and banks of the Jhelum in Srinagar in October 2017 when pollutants from two canals were released into the river, leading to oxygen depletion.

A study, “Massive land system changes impact water quality of the Jhelum in Kashmir Himalayas”, published by Shakil Roomshoo and others, to assess the changes in water quality from 1983 until 2016 shows an increase of nitrate-nitrogen in the river.

“The concentration of nitrate-nitrogen in the river has increased from 185 to 672µgL-1, indicating an increase of 260 per cent over the years. It has happened due to the combined impact of urbanisation, reckless application of pesticides and fertilisers, forest degradation and deforestation,” reveals the study.

The river’s water quality, categorised as Class A (meaning it is worth drinking without treatment) at its source at Verinag in south Kashmir by the State Pollution Control Board, deteriorates to Class B (meaning it is safe for outdoor bathing only) all along the rest of its course in the region. It has also been found to be more polluted in the urban areas compared to the rural settings.

The study adds that aquatic vegetation in lakes and wetlands has gone up by 110 per cent during the past four decades, thereby affecting the health of the socio-economically and ecologically important ecosystems.

“We will establish the STPs around the Jhelum to stop the entry of untreated sewage into the river. Also, many other measures for pollution control and conservation of the Jhelum are on the cards,” said Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Baseer Khan.