Heavy metal pollutants in Ganga down 50 per cent during lockdown: IIT-K study
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, FEB 08, 2021: REDUCED industrial discharge during two months of the COVID-19 induced lockdown decreased the dissolved heavy metal concentration in the Ganga river by a minimum of 50 per cent, found a study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
"Efforts to minimise industrial wastewater can substantially reduce heavy metal pollution in the Ganga water in a short time span of a few months," said the Ministry of Science and Technology on Monday, sharing the study.
Researchers from the Department of Earth Sciences were able to quantify the impact of restricted anthropogenic activities on the water chemistry resilience of the Ganga in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh between March 25-May 13, 2020.
They analysed the daily geochemical record of the river and found that it can get rid of the heavy metal pollution by a minimum of 50 per cent if industrial wastewater discharge is cut down for 51 days.
In contrast, inputs from agricultural runoff and domestic sewage like nitrate and phosphate remained almost the same as these sources were not impacted by the nationwide confinement.
Based on these observations, they concluded that the Ganga has a "high resilience" toward dissolved heavy metal concentrations and that the river system could revert toward "pristine" following reductions of industrial discharge.
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