Modeling the Efficacy of the Ganga Action Plan's Restoration of the Ganga River, India

Natural Resources and Environment;Science;Natural Resources and Environment

Lacy, ShawAnn Arbor ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Natural Resources and Environment;    Science;    Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/41227/Shaw_Lacy_MS_Opus.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Abstract.To combat rising levels of water pollution in the Ganges River, the Indian governmentinitiated the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) in 1984. After twenty years, it is a commonperception that the GAP has failed to achieve the goals of a cleaner river. Usingavailable government data on pollution levels and hydrology, I undertook an of the GAPefficacy for fifteen pollution parameters across 52 water quality sampling points monitoredby India’s Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) within the Ganga Basin. Dissolvedoxygen, BOD, and COD showed a significant improvement of water quality aftertwenty years. In addition, fecal and total coliform levels, as well as concentrations of calcium,magnesium, and TDS all showed a significant decline. Building on this analysis, aGIS analysis was used to create a spatial model of the majority of the Ganga River networkusing a reach-based ecological classification approach. Using recent GAP monitoringdata, a multiple linear regression model of expected pollutant loads within each reach(VSEC unit) was created. This model was then used to inventory water quality across theentire basin, based on CPCB criteria. My analysis showed 208 river km were class A,1,142 river km were class B, 684 river km were class C, 1,614 river km were class D, and10,403 river km were class E. In 2004, field measurements were taken at six major citiesalong the Ganga mainstem which showed lower concentrations of nitrogen predictedfrom my model, and roughly the same values of phosphate as the model provided. Althoughthe GAP did not result in significant improvements in all major water quality parameters,the fact that most water quality parameters did not significantly decline, evenafter a doubling of the region’s population during the twenty-year period, does reflect asignificant level of success with the law.