Parliament Question: Assessment and Restoration of Polluted Lakes

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2421 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.12.2025 Assessment and Restoration of Polluted Lakes 2421. SHRI KUNDURU RAGHUVEER: Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted any nationwide assessment regarding the increasing pollution of lakes, waterbodies and urban tanks due to sewage discharge industrial effluents, solid-waste dumping, encroachments and chemical contamination across the country during the last five years, if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise including Telangana; (b) the number of polluted lakes identified during the last five years and the status of water quality deterioration, including the parameters that exceeded permissible limits,State/UT-wise; (c) whether any cases of violation by industries, municipalities, or construction agencies have been recorded for polluting or encroaching upon lakes and if so, the action taken in each case; (d) the steps taken by the Government, in coordination with States, to restore polluted lakes under the programmes such as National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Wetland Conservation Scheme and National Green Tribunal (NGT) directions; and (e) whether the Government proposes a stricter monitoring system and real-time surveillance of vulnerable lakes? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH) (a) to (e) Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) at present monitors water quality of aquatic resources in the country in association with the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) at 4922 locations including in the state of Telangana under National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP) as detailed in Annexure I. The State/UT wise status of water quality details for Lakes, Ponds and Tanks are available in public domain at CPCB website at https://cpcb.nic.in/nwmp-data/. As per the information available, 158 Lakes, Ponds and Tanks comply with Primary Water Quality Criteria (PWQC)for outdoor bathing notified under Environment (Protection) Rules,1986 for the year 2023 out of which 5 Lakes/Ponds/Tanks exist in Telangana. CPCB periodically reviews the water quality data of stagnant water bodies viz. lakes, tanks and ponds and shares the outcome of assessment with SPCB/PCCs for source identification and taking measures for improvement of water quality. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has enacted the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for protection of environment including lakes. Further, Government of India notified Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as regulatory framework for conservation and management of wetlands in India. Under the said rules, powers have been delegated to the State/UT Wetlands Authorities for identification, notification and management of the wetlands in their respective jurisdiction. MoEF&CC is implementing a centrally sponsored scheme, namely, National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems (NPCA) for conservation and management of wetlands in the country, on cost sharing basis between Central Government and respective State Governments. The scheme covers various activities such as interception, diversion and treatment of wastewater, shoreline protection, in-situ cleaning i.e., desilting and deweeding, biodiversity conservation, storm water management, bioremediation, catchment area treatment including tree plantation and aided natural regeneration, survey and demarcation, bio-fencing, sustainable livelihood development including fisheries, eco-tourism development, education and awareness creation, community participation, etc. Further, in its strong commitment towards wetland conservation, India has added 67 wetlands as Ramsar Sites since 2014 and the total number of which rose to 94 at present. Further, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs implements Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0 (AMRUT 2.0) under which rejuvenation of water bodies and wells is one of the main components. Under the Mission, States/ UTs are empowered to select, appraise, prioritise and implement the projects within the broad framework of Mission guidelines. Under AMRUT 2.0, 3,031 water body rejuvenation projects worth ₹6,270.51 crore have been approved so far. Further, the following steps have been taken by the government to strengthen the enforcement of environmental regulations and control of water pollution in the country.  The Central and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) / Pollution Control Pollution Committees (PCCS) are implementing the provisions of both the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to prevent and control pollution of aquatic resources.  Regulation of industrial Pollution is implemented through various provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 under Consent mechanism by the respective SPCB / PCC.  Government of India stipulated General discharge standards and industry specific effluent discharge standards under Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 with an aim to prevent pollution in the water bodies.  The Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) are being installed by 17 categories of industries and Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) in the country. Thisinitiative provides real-time information on effluent quality, enabling the identification of non-complying units and the implementation of corrective actions.  SPCBs / PCCs have been directed under Section 18(1) (b) of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 to direct concerned agencies in the State/UT to develop infrastructure for sewage treatment. ***Annexure – I NWMP Network State reviR ekaL dnoP knaT dnuorG retaW dnalteW lanaC niarD riovreseR /keerC /latsaoC /eniraM egaweS tnemtaerT stnalP retaW tnemtaerT tnalP waR ( )retaW Grand Total Andhra Pradesh 45 16 - 3 61 21 5 4 5 27 1 - 188 Arunachal Pradesh 17 - - - - - - - - - - - 17 Assam 112 34 24 - 67 2 - - - - - - 239 Bihar 96 3 2 - 70 - - - - - - - 171 Chandigarh - 1 - - 7 - - 3 - - - - 11 Chhattisgarh 29 - 1 - 8 - - - 1 - - - 39 Daman And Diu, Dadra 13 - - - 12 - - - - - - - 25 And Nagar Haveli Delhi 12 3 - - 45 - 2 26 - - - 6 94 Goa 32 44 - - 9 - 3 - 2 24 1 - 115 Gujarat 65 17 2 - 88 3 3 - 4 3 2 - 187 Haryana 23 4 1 - 29 1 14 1 - - - 3 76 Himachal Pradesh 156 5 1 - 55 - - 32 1 - - - 250 Jammu & Kashmir 63 36 - - 23 10 - 2 - - - - 134 Jharkhand 65 4 4 - 3 - - - - - - - 76 Karnataka 126 151 1 67 2 - - - 6 - - - 358 Kerala 138 29 7 - 35 - 3 1 - - 1 - 219 Lakshadweep - - 3 - 42 - - - - - - - 45 Madhya 211 20 11 1 54 - - - 8 - - - 305 Pradesh Maharashtra 181 1 - - 50 - - 10 1 35 - - 278 Manipur 44 5 14 - 10 - 2 - - - - - 75 Meghalaya 64 7 - - 13 - - - - - - - 84 Mizoram 67 6 13 - 26 - - - 9 - - - 121 Nagaland 32 6 - - 10 - - - - - - - 48 Odisha 156 7 10 - 100 4 11 3 6 90 3 - 390 Puducherry 6 3 - - 22 - - - - 3 - - 34 Punjab 66 17 6 - 46 - 2 10 - - 8 - 155 Rajasthan 30 27 2 - 131 - 5 - 7 - - - 202State reviR ekaL dnoP knaT dnuorG retaW dnalteW lanaC niarD riovreseR /keerC /latsaoC /eniraM egaweS tnemtaerT stnalP retaW tnemtaerT tnalP waR ( )retaW Grand Total Sikkim 28 2 - - - - - - - - - 30 Tamil Nadu 71 8 - 1 22 13 2 4 - 34 16 - 171 Telangana 49 100 29 30 48 - - 2 7 - 8 - 273 Tripura 38 8 10 - 57 - 7 - - - - - 120 Uttar Pradesh 121 7 2 - 39 3 1 - 1 - - 2 176 Uttarakhand 44 2 - - 19 1 3 - - - - - 69 West Bengal 60 14 - - 68 2 2 - - 1 - - 147 Grand Total 2260 587 143 102 1271 60 65 98 58 227 40 11 4922