Parliament Question: National Water Quality Monitoring Programme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1449 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2026 National Water Quality Monitoring Programme 1449. DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI RAVINDRA DATTARAM WAIKAR: SMT. BHARTI PARDHI: SHRI NARESH GANPAT MHASKE: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA CHANDU BARNE: Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state: (a) the details of the number of monitoring stations established and operational across the country under the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWQMP), State-wise; (b) the data on the water quality assessments conducted under the NWQMP since 2019 and the parameters monitored, State and year-wise; (c) the collaboration with the international organizations, private sector entities to enhance the accuracy and reliability of water quality data collected across its monitoring stations under the NWQMP; (d) the measures have been taken under the NWQMP to address contamination of water sources, such as rivers, lakes and groundwater in identified polluted areas; and (e) whether the Government is considering to expand the network of monitoring stations to cover more water bodies, especially in rural and underserved regions and include additional water quality parameters, such as emerging contaminants, under the monitoring framework of the NWQMP, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH) (a): The State wise details of number of monitoring network across the country under the National Water Quality Monitoring Network (NWQMP) are attached at Annexure-I (b) : Under NWMP, as per the Guidelines on Water Quality Monitoring 2017, General & core and bacteriological parameters monitored bimonthly, heavy metals and pesticides parameters are monitored twice in a year. The State wise data on water quality and details of parameters monitored are available at CPCB website https://cpcb.nic.in/nwmp-data/. (c): Initially, CPCB implemented water quality monitoring program under the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS–Water Programme), an international initiative of UNEP and WHO, during the late 1970s, aimed at generating reliable, standardized and comparable water quality data at the global level. However, there is no collaboration with international agencies at present under NWMP.(d): Steps taken by the government under NWQMP for prevention and control of water pollution are given below:-  The water quality data under National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP) is utilized for identification of PRS based on the level of organic load which is measured in terms of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentration. The PRS are classified under Priority Class I to Priority Class V, Priority I being most polluted with BOD value of more than 30 mg/l and Priority V being least polluted with BOD ranging between 3 – 6 mg/l.  CPCB has identified Polluted River Stretches (PRS) and published reports in 2018, 2022 and 2025. Based on the identified PRS and for the rejuvenation of these PRS all State Governments and UT Administrations have formed River Rejuvenation Committees (RRCs) of the concerned states/ UTs; the RRC functions under the overall supervision and coordination of the Principal Secretary, Environment.  The RRCs were responsible for developing action plans for the rejuvenation of the PRS identified by CPCB during the year 2018 for their respective states/ UTs. The action plans including Industrial pollution control were prepared for bringing the water quality of polluted river stretches to the quality level fit for bathing purposes (i.e. BOD ˂ 3 mg/L).  Progress of implementation of action plans are reviewed by the RRC at state level and Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti at Central Level. (e): The monitoring framework of the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP) will be decided based on water sampling data in locations/stretches of water bodies, which are identified as not meeting the Primary Water Quality criterion for outdoor bathing for Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) *****Annexure - I State-wise details of monitoring network under NWMP Creek/ Water Wetland Ground Reservoir Coastal/ Treat Grand State River Lake Pond Tank Canal Drain Water Marine/ Sea STP ment Total Plant ( Raw Water) Andhra Pradesh 45 16 - 3 21 5 4 61 5 27 1 - 188 Arunachal Pradesh 17 - - - - - - - - - - - 17 Assam 112 34 24 - 2 - - 67 - - - - 239 Bihar 96 3 2 - - - - 70 - - - - 171 Chandigarh - 1 - - - - 3 7 - - - - 11 Chhattisgarh 29 - 1 - - - - 8 1 - - - 39 Daman And Diu, Dadra 13 - - - - - - 12 - - - - 25 And Nagar Haveli Delhi 12 3 - - - 2 26 45 - - - 6 94 Goa 32 44 - - - 3 - 9 2 24 1 - 115 Gujarat 65 17 2 - 3 3 - 88 4 3 2 - 187 Haryana 23 4 1 - 1 14 1 29 - - - 3 76 Himachal Pradesh 156 5 1 - - - 32 55 1 - - - 250 Jammu & Kashmir 63 36 - - 10 - 2 23 - - - - 134 Jharkhand 65 4 4 - - - - 3 - - - - 76 Karnataka 126 151 1 67 - - - 2 6 - - - 358 Kerala 138 29 7 - - 3 1 35 - - 1 - 219 Lakshadweep - - 3 - - - - 42 - - - - 45 Madhya 211 20 11 1 - - - 54 8 - - - 305 PradeshMaharashtra 181 1 - - - - 10 50 1 35 - - 278 Manipur 44 5 14 - - 2 - 10 - - - - 75 Meghalaya 64 7 - - - - - 13 - - - - 84 Mizoram 67 6 13 - - - - 26 9 - - - 121 Nagaland 32 6 - - - - - 10 - - - - 48 Odisha 156 7 10 - 4 11 3 100 6 90 3 - 390 Puducherry 6 3 - - - - - 22 - 3 - - 34 Punjab 66 17 6 - - 2 10 46 - - 8 - 155 Rajasthan 30 27 2 - - 5 - 131 7 - - - 202 Sikkim 28 2 - - - - - - - - - 30 Tamil Nadu 71 8 - 1 13 2 4 22 - 34 16 - 171 Telangana 49 100 29 30 - - 2 48 7 - 8 - 273 Tripura 38 8 10 - - 7 - 57 - - - - 120 Uttar Pradesh 121 7 2 - 3 1 - 39 1 - - 2 176 Uttarakhand 44 2 - - 1 3 - 19 - - - - 69 West Bengal 60 14 - - 2 2 - 68 - 1 - - 147 Grand Total 2260 587 143 102 60 65 98 1271 58 227 40 11 4922 ****