Dehradun: As per some study reports, the lockdown proved to be a boon for nature irrespective of the difficulty faced by humans during that phase.
At that time, scientists of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology conducted a study on the river Ganga, which has now been published in Geochemical Transactions. Based on the report, the pollution of Ganga was reduced by 93 per cent during the lockdown.
Lockdown became a boon for the environment:
According to the report of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Ramesh and Sharin studied the water of Ganga in 1992. During that time, the Water Pollution Index (WPI) of the Alaknanda River was 0.10.
At the same time, the WPI of the Bhagirathi River was 0.12 and the WPI of Ganga was 0.13. Thereafter, the level of pollution in Ganga increased due to human intervention.
According to the scientists of Wadia, before the lockdown, the water pollution index of Ganga in Haridwar was around 115. At the same time, in 2020, when all activities stopped due to the lockdown, there was a lot of improvement in the water pollution index of other rivers, including Ganga.
Ganga had become 93 per cent clean: In 2020, in a study by the Wadia Institute, the WPI of the Alaknanda River was found to be 0.15. At the same time, the WPI of Bhagirathi was 0.13, the WPI of Ganga was 0.14, and the WPI of Tons River was around 0.18.
The study report of the Wadia Institute shows that during the lockdown, the water pollution index of the Alaknanda River has decreased by 21 per cent, the Bhagirathi River by 32 per cent and the Ganga River by 93 per cent.
Scientists took samples of Ganga-Yamuna from these places: Wadio Institute scientist Dr Sameer Tiwari said that he and his team took samples of Ganga and Yamuna river water from a total of 34 different places during the lockdown.
In the first phase of the lockdown, i.e. in May 2020, samples were taken from 10 places for the Ganga river system. Moreover, samples were taken from six places for the Yamuna river system.
The water of Ganga and Yamuna had become completely clean: Similarly, in the second phase of the lockdown, i.e., in June 2020, samples were taken from 10 places for the Ganga river system and eight places for the Yamuna river system.
Also, to study the quality of water, 16 elements present inside the water were examined, the report of which has now been published. During this time, it was seen that the water of Ganga and Yamuna had become completely clean.
Effect of lockdown on rivers: According to scientist Dr Sameer Tiwari, when everything was closed during the COVID-19 period, the sky also became completely clear, which meant that the emission of greenhouse gases was decreasing.
In such a situation, the Wadia Institute tried to know what effect the lockdown has had on Ganga and Yamuna. For this, a study was conducted on May 5, 2020, and June 13, 2020. For the Ganga river, samples were collected from Koteshwar Dam to Devprayag, about 25 km above the Bhagirathi river, and from the Mulya area, about 10 km above the Alaknanda river.
Comparison with the first study report: Dr Sameer Tiwari said that Ramesh and Sharin studied the matter and chemistry of Ganga water in 1992. Based on the report, the quality of Ganga water was extracted at that time. Apart from this, Chakrapani had also done a study in 2005. His team studied all these reports along with their new report.
Ganga water had become drinkable. In this study, it was found that during the two-month lockdown in 2020, Ganga was cleaned by about 93 per cent.
Ganga water in Rishikesh had become as clean as Gomukh: Tiwari also said that before the Covid-19 period, when the sample of Ganga river was taken in Rishikesh and Haridwar, the TDS (total dissolved solids) of the water was around 150 mg/litre, but during the Covid period, the TDS (Total dissolved solids) of Ganga water in Shyampur and Haridwar had become around 35 mg/litre.
