River water unsafe for drinking without treatment: Survey

Despite various efforts of the government to depollute rivers across the country, water was found unsafe for drinking without treatment, according to a survey conducted by a green advocacy body.
A survey by TERI of seven major river cities revealed that 86 per cent of the respondents affirmed that it was not safe to drink river water without treatment.
46 per cent believed that the overall quality of the river water in their city was poor, followed by 35 per cent and 18 per cent who identified it as fair and good, respectively.
"The odor in the surrounding areas of river was perceived to have worsened by 56 per cent of the respondents. 24 per cent said there was no change, and 17 per cent said it had become better," the survey said.

The survey covered seven river cities namely Delhi on Yamuna, Cuttack on Mahanadi, Dibrugarh (Assam) on Brahmaputra, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) on Narmada, Surat (Gujarat) on Tapti, Varanasi on Ganga, and Vijayawada on Krishna.
It was divided into three sub-sections based on overall environment, health & environment and environment in river cities.

Almost 93 per cent of the respondents identified that city sewerage is a threat to the river, and 92 per cent believed that the sewage water, before being discharged into the river, should be treated properly.
"78 per cent of the respondents affirmed that there had been an increase in the amount of effluents dumped into the river in the last one year, although 64 per cent of all the respondents agreed that the effluents were being dumped are according to government norms," it said.

On air quality, 60 per cent of respondents percieved worsening of air quality and tree cover or green cover in their area of the city.
However, an improvement over the past five years was percieved by 36 per cent of the respondents in case of drinking water availability and 29 per cent of the respondents each in case of drinking water quality and waste management.
"72 per cent of the respondents strongly agreed to the statement that climate change directly impacts humans," the survey said.