A detailed survey of the river Hindon was carried out to understand the nature of waste effluents and their impact on water quality. As per the study, the river water is subject to varying degrees of pollution, caused by numerous untreated waste outfalls of municipal and industrial effluents.
The main sources, which create pollution in the river, include municipal wastes of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad districts received through tributaries as well as direct outfalls. In the non-monsoon months, the river is completely dry, right from its origin upto Saharanpur town. The effluents of Nagdev nala and Star Paper Mill at Saharanpur generate the flow of water in the river.
The dissolved oxygen (DO) content in the upstream section of the river was found to be quite satisfactory. The situation is dismal after the confluence of Paper Mill and Distillery effluents, which add high concentration of organic matter to the river, resulting in decrease in DO along with increase in Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS).
In the middle section of the river, the DO level improves significantly due to aeration and photosynthesis. In the lower stretch, the DO shows a large variation depending on flows received from the Upper Ganga Canal through Khatauli and Jani escapes.
The study recommends that the wastewater generated by the municipal areas of Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad should be treated and utilized for irrigation through an organized network. It also suggests that Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) should be installed by all the industries discharging their effluents directly into the river without any treatment.
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