Water pollution and river rejuvenation

Prelims and Mains

Sewage that is treated and then let into the river uses the treatment capacity once. A reuse policy sends that water to a farm or a factory instead, and two States have now written one.

• The National Framework on Safe Reuse of Treated Water, 2022, asks every State to frame its own reuse policy.
• Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand notified policies for the reuse of treated wastewater, one written for the plains and one for hill conditions.
• Each builds in fit-for-purpose reuse, blended finance and digital monitoring, and ties reuse to river rejuvenation.

Prelims and Mains

The Jojari carries industrial effluent rather than sewage, and the remedy asked of the court was distance rather than treatment. In August 2026 the Supreme Court fixed that distance in metres.

• The Supreme Court barred construction within 100 metres of the Jojari and hazardous industry within 500 metres of its flood line.
• The Jojari carries Jodhpur's industrial effluent to the Luni near Balotra, as the Bandi carries Pali's.
• Effluent in the Jojari, Bandi and Luni affects about two million people in Rajasthan.

Prelims and Mains

Chromium sulphate for the tanneries was made around Kanpur for decades, and the waste from making it was left on the ground. It has since worked its way down into the water people drink.

• Groundwater in about a dozen areas of Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat and Fatehpur was reported to hold hexavalent chromium, from decades of waste dumped by factories making chromium sulphate for tanneries.
• A 2025 State report found excess chromium (VI) in 73 to 96 per cent of the blood samples tested.
• National Green Tribunal orders in 2005 and 2017 had sought closures and the removal of the dumps.
• It is a carcinogen, and long inhalation raises the risk of lung cancer.
• Swallowed in water, it injures the liver, kidneys and gut.
• Skin contact causes ulcers and allergic dermatitis.