Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Mar 27: Because of the effluents from the underground drainage in cities and towns, apart from the waste from industries functioning in the catchment areas of the respective rivers, 17 rivers in Karnataka including River Netravati have been polluted, a report of the union Jal Shakti ministry has revealed.

As per the result obtained through the monitoring of the oxygen biochemical demand, 323 out of 351 rivers in the country are polluted, said minister of the state in the Jal Shakti ministry, Ratanlal Kataria, in his written reply furnished to the Lok Sabha.

Netravati (file photo)

The monitoring centre of the union pollution control board, in association with the respective state pollution control boards, has been regularly monitoring the quality of water of different rivers and other water sources. The minister clarified that agricultural waste, open defecation, solid waste from towns and cities etc also are sources of river pollution.

Urban areas in the country produce 61,948 MLD of underground drainage water, out of which only 23,277 MLD water is processed and then diverted into rivers and streams. Four industries in Karnataka are high pollutants and all of them are following the guidelines of the pollution control board, he said.

The minister added that the board has sought to set up a monitoring system to measure the waste the sugar factories emit on a daily basis.

Karnataka rivers that have polluted:

Arkavathi, Lakshmana Tirtha, Malaprabha, Tungabhadra, Cauvery, Bhadra, Thunga, Kabini, Kagina, Asangi Nala, Kali, Krishna, Shimsha, Bhima, Kumaradhara, Netravati and Yagachi.