Analyzing the Impact of Lockdown on Rejuvenation of Rivers in Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

AbstractWater security in India has always been one of the major concerns especially in terms of water quality, availability and its accessibility as only 40% of the population has access to safe drinking water. River is a major source of drinking water and a lot of stress is being given to revive its water quality and the attached riparian ecosystem, thus restoring the natural structure of the river. Through this study, we have attempted to understand nature's response to river restoration of rivers by limiting the anthropogenic activities that lead to water pollution. The lockdown period from Jan to Oct 2020 has been considered for the examination of the water quality trend in the Ganga, Yamuna, Hindon and East Kali rivers of Uttar Pradesh (U.P). It was found that River Ganges and River Yamuna had improvement in water quality due to partial closure of industries discharging effluents. However, River Hindon showed slight improvement in the water quality indicating that the untreated wastewater from small drains is the main source of water pollution as against industrial effluents. There was no improvement in water quality of River East Kali, thus signifying the level of over-exploitation that has resulted in destruction of its natural ecosystem. The spatio-temporal analysis of Biological Oxygen Demand, Dissolved Oxygen, Fecal Coliform and Total Coliform with respect to pollution sources was carried out using geo-spatial techniques. The trend analysis accentuates the variations in significant pollutant loads of river water during various periods of the lockdown (pre-, during and post-lockdown). A sudden drastic degradation of the river water quality was observed during the post-lockdown period as compared to the during lockdown phase mainly due to the restrictions upliftment on industrial activities. These findings highlight that a new paradigm evaluated can be used for river restoration as a cost-effective solution for mitigating flood risk.KeywordsRiver restorationLockdownWater qualityFlood risk