Official CPCB data from 2024 reveals that nearly one in three monitored river stations exceeds safe limits for biological oxygen demand — a direct measure of sewage and industrial pollution.
Live Map
630 precisely geocoded stations from CPCB NWMP 2024. Click any marker for details.
Worst Offenders
| # | River / Location | State | BOD Max (mg/L) | Times Over Limit | Severity |
|---|
What It Means
BOD — Biological Oxygen Demand
BOD measures how much oxygen bacteria need to break down organic waste in water. The higher the BOD, the more sewage or industrial effluent has been dumped. Fish suffocate. Aquatic life collapses. The river becomes a drain.
Safe limit: < 3.0 mg/L | River Sirsa: 70.0 mg/L = 23× overFecal Coliform — MPN/100mL
Fecal coliform bacteria come from human and animal sewage. Their presence in water means it is unsafe to touch, let alone drink. At 900,000 MPN/100mL, the Jhelum at Srinagar carries raw sewage at 360 times the safe threshold.
Safe limit: < 2,500 MPN/100mL | Jhelum Srinagar: 900,000DO — Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen is what fish and aquatic organisms breathe. Pollution consumes it. When DO drops below 5 mg/L, fish die. When it reaches zero, the river becomes anaerobic — black, foul-smelling, biologically dead.
Healthy minimum: > 5.0 mg/L | Multiple stations: < 3.0 mg/LThe Bigger Picture
481 out of 1,553 monitored stations — nearly one in three — exceed safe BOD limits. These aren't remote tributaries. They are the Yamuna in Delhi, the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, the Cooum in Chennai. Rivers that millions depend on daily.
Data source: CPCB NWMP 2024 | cpcb.nic.inIndia's rivers are public goods. They belong to every citizen. Share this data — because visibility is the first step toward accountability.
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