logo
Waters in Goa's lakes, borewells polluted: GSPCB

Waters in Goa's lakes, borewells polluted: GSPCB

Time of India06-06-2025
Panaji: The Goa state pollution control board (GSPCB) stated that the water of lakes, wells, borewells, estuaries, and coastal waters in the state is polluted, but the water quality of rivers and waterfalls meets prescribed standards.
In its annual report released on Thursday, the board mentioned that air quality is good to satisfactory for most of the year from April 2023 to March 2024. The board monitors water quality at 115 locations throughout Goa under the national water quality monitoring programme (NWMP). The water bodies monitored include rivers, wells, canals, lakes, reservoirs, creeks, nallahs, and common STPs (inlet & outlet).
Among the rivers, estuarine rivers and freshwater rivers form a part of the riverine network at water intake points for water treatment plants for public water supply.
Groundwater sources (borewell water) located within selective major industrial estates are also part of this programme. Besides, selective coastal beach locations (20 coastal shoreline waters) along the coast of Goa are also included under the NWMP network.
The 115 locations covered under this programme are distributed throughout Goa, with 54 stations in North Goa and 61 in South Goa.
The 115 locations are divided into two groups, which include 107 monitored on a monthly basis and eight (bore wells located in some industrial estates) monitored on a half-yearly basis as per CPCB protocol.
A total of 1,263 samples were collected from these locations and analysed during the year 2024-2025.
'NWMP locations categorised under class C (rivers/waterfalls) throughout the state comply with prescribed CPCB standards most of the year. St Inez creek (North Goa) and Bethora nallah (South Goa), categorised in class B, indicate non-compliance with CPCB's prescribed standards most of the year for parameters like DO, BOD, faecal coliform, and faecal streptococci,' the board said.
'For NWMP locations categorised under class E (lakes), parameters namely conductivity and specific absorption ratio do not comply in a few instances in the year, as per CPCB prescribed standards, while all other parameters comply,' the board said.
'For NWMP locations categorised under class A (wells/bore-wells), parameters namely DO and BOD indicate non-compliance most of the year. The majority of the locations classified under SWII (estuaries and Cumbharjua canal), as well as some coastal waters, indicate non-compliance with faecal coliform as per CPCB prescribed water quality standards,' the board said.
Under the national air quality monitoring programme (NAMP), the GSPCB monitors 18 ambient air quality monitoring (AAQM) locations within Goa. Besides the 18 AAQM locations, the board monitors an additional location at the fire brigade station, MPT.
Out of the 18 NAMP locations, 16 locations are outsourced to laboratories recognised by the Union environment ministry, and three stations' sampling and analysis are conducted by the board's staff.
Parameters like particulate matter (PM10), particulate matter (PM2.5), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrous oxide (NO2) have been monitored at all the stations.
'Air quality in Goa, as per locations monitored for the period April 2024 to March 2025, is good to satisfactory for the maximum time of the year. However, it is satisfactory to moderate for industrial estates like Cuncolim, Tuem, Bicholim, Vasco, Baina, and Kundaim. The field observations around the monitoring locations indicate the prominence of anthropogenic activities like vehicular movements, construction activities, and road digging,' said GSPCB.
There are six AQI categories, namely good, satisfactory, moderately polluted, poor, very poor, and severe, based on eight pollutants. The good to satisfactory air quality category may cause minor breathing discomfort to some people.
Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with
Eid wishes
,
messages
, and
quotes
!
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Gurgaon now pollution blind as sole reading station goes offline
Gurgaon now pollution blind as sole reading station goes offline

Time of India

time24 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Gurgaon now pollution blind as sole reading station goes offline

Gurgaon: The city, one of India's most-polluted urban areas, has been without real-time air quality monitoring for the past 10 days. The lone functional Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Station(CAQMS) in the city, located at Gwalpahari and operated by IMD, last recorded readings on July 13. Since then, even this station went offline. What this means is that for over a week now, no government-run air quality monitor in Gurgaon is providing AQI data to the public, state pollution control board and national dashboards like CPCB. This didn't happen overnight. The Sector 51's station stopped working in April, while Teri's monitor went quiet in March and Vikas Sadan's in Jan. You Can Also Check: Gurgaon AQI | Weather in Gurgaon | Bank Holidays in Gurgaon | Public Holidays in Gurgaon What happens when data disappears? First, regulatory agencies lose visibility. Without live PM2.5 and PM10 data, there's no way to evaluate day-to-day pollution readings or activate emergency measures like GRAP. Public health advisories can't be issued, and residents with respiratory or cardiac conditions have no information to base their day's planning on. This isn't a minor glitch. It's a complete data blackout in a city where the air is often dangerously dirty. "Monitoring and availability of air quality data is the first step to improve air, and it is even more critical for a city like Gurgaon, which sits in one of the most polluted airsheds globally," said Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst at Envirocatalysts. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Paras Sector 59 Gurgaon | Luxury Awaits at Paras Floret Paras The Florett Book Now Undo "HSPCB, CPCB and IITM must urgently coordinate to resolve tendering delays and restore the system. Pollution control efforts need to be data-driven," he added. Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) analyst Manoj Kumar said the situation needed urgent attention. "With the peak pollution season just a few months away, transparency and timely warnings for the public are non-negotiable." IMD's VK Soni, responding to the shutdown of Gwalpahari, said, "Some parameters at the station started showing abnormal values, likely due to the sensor malfunction. As a precaution, CPCB had asked us to stop data transmission until the issue is completely resolved. We have identified the problem and are working to fix it. The station should be back online shortly." A study of air quality data by CREA ranked Gurgaon as the fifth most-polluted Indian city in the first half of 2025, with an average concentration of PM2.5 at 75 µg/m³, 15 times higher than WHO's maximum permissible limit (5 µg/m³). It further identified January 19, 2025, as Gurgaon's 'overshoot day'. By then, particulate matter 2.5 concentration was already so high that, even if levels were to drastically reduce to zero for the rest of the year, the city would still fail to meet WHO's annual limit.

Regulators vital to ensure quality in processed foods: Chirag Paswan
Regulators vital to ensure quality in processed foods: Chirag Paswan

Business Standard

time6 hours ago

  • Business Standard

Regulators vital to ensure quality in processed foods: Chirag Paswan

Union Minister Chirag Paswan on Wednesday said regulatory authorities like the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have an important role to play in promoting processed food in the country by ensuring adherence to quality standards. The minister was speaking at the curtain raiser for World Food India, being organised by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI), Government of India, from September 25 to 28 in New Delhi. 'We continue to believe that only fresh food is good for health,' he said, adding that in times like these—when misleading advertisements and fake narratives are rampant—it is important to dispel untruths about the food processing industry. 'It is believed that if a food product is processed, it has lost nutrition and quality, which needs to change. We are talking about adding value to the food by processing,' he said. 'Our regulatory bodies, like the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, play an important role in ensuring that processed foods reaching the table are not harmful to health.' 'For a farmer-dependent country, food processing can lead to increased incomes for farmers along with creating job opportunities for the country's youth,' he further said. The fourth edition of World Food India 2025 is set to be the largest yet, with participation expected from over 90 countries, more than 2,000 exhibitors, and thousands of stakeholders spanning the entire food value chain from farm to fork. The minister also unveiled the publicity brochure, website, and app for the upcoming event.

Union Petroleum Minister promises ₹48 crore for cancer treatment equipment in three government general hospitals in Andhra Pradesh
Union Petroleum Minister promises ₹48 crore for cancer treatment equipment in three government general hospitals in Andhra Pradesh

The Hindu

time8 hours ago

  • The Hindu

Union Petroleum Minister promises ₹48 crore for cancer treatment equipment in three government general hospitals in Andhra Pradesh

Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has, in principle, assured ₹48 crore financial assistance from his Ministry towards providing medical equipment for treatment of cancer in the government general hospitals in Kakinada, Guntur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh. At a meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, Minister of State for Rural Development and Communications P. Chandra Sekhar and Rajya Sabha member S. Sathish Babu, who hails from Kakinada, urged the Union Minister to provide the equipment under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a release issued by Mr. Sathish Babu said. 'Mr. Hardeep Singh has assured to offer ₹48 crore through the CSR fund from the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) towards providing medical equipment for cancer screening and radiation treatment,' the release said. 'The equipment, each worth ₹16 crore, will be installed in the government general hospitals for better cancer treatment in the respective regions,' Mr. Sathish Babu added.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store