Due to fast population growth, migration and industrialisation, the pollution of the Ganges river has become a major issue for India and one of the biggest environmental challenges on earth. The Ganges river is a holy river and a goddess according to Hindu religion, and it is a major concern for every Hindu to reanimate and keep it alive. To clean the river is not only a big technical challenge, but also of enormous cultural and spiritual importance.
Therefore, the National Mission for Clean Ganga was born in 2011 by the Indian government supported by religious leaders, to fight the pollution and try to revive the river and its surroundings. The World Bank is supporting the National Ganga River Basin Project, which includes the construction of waste water collection systems and treatment plants to reduce the discharge of waste water with a total amount of $1 billion.
On April 7th, a five year water quality data supply contract was appointed to s::can by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the government authority in charge. The 36 monitoring stations will be designed, installed and operated by s::can Messtechnik GmbH in close co-operation with the local Indian partner, Aaxis Nano. The measuring stations will continuously send real time water quality data to the Central Pollution Control Board in New Delhi. The collected information will strengthen the regulation and oversight of the river’s pollution load by helping planners better understand the origins of pollution, as well as to assess the impact of treatment on the water’s quality.
Since 2013, 13 s::can online monitoring stations have already proven to deliver valid data from the Ganges river and tributaries, and, also due to our partner Aaxis’ great efforts, are close to 100% operational, extremely reliable, and tolerant to the extreme environmental conditions in India.
The new contract is only a first phase of an even larger program to acquire reliable water quality data along the Ganges, and other Indian rivers, and will be a global reference.
