Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 1: Water quality monitoring of wetlands and major water bodies across Kashmir has revealed that a majority of the monitored sites are not meeting the prescribed ‘Class B’ primary water quality criteria.
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According to official data, 88 wetlands are being monitored across eight districts – Bandipora, Kupwara, Ganderbal, Baramulla, Pulwama, Anantnag, Srinagar and Budgam. Of these, only 16 wetlands were found conforming to ‘Class B’ standards, while 72 failed to meet the required parameters.
District-wise data showed that in Bandipora, 28 wetlands are monitored, but only two meet the standards and 26 failed. In Kupwara, four out of 23 wetlands conform, while 19 do not.
Ganderbal recorded five compliant wetlands out of 14, with nine failing. Baramulla has only one compliant wetland out of seven. In Pulwama, none of the six monitored wetlands meet the standards.
Anantnag has one wetland monitored and it conformed. Srinagar reported zero compliance among five monitored wetlands and includes Dal Lake, Nigeen and Anchar. In Budgam, three out of four wetlands met the criteria.
The Government data further detailed the status of major rivers and lakes. In the Jhelum River, 14 locations are monitored. Eleven locations met ‘Class B’ standards in respect of pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), but 13 locations did not conform in terms of Fecal Coliform contamination.
All nine monitoring locations on the Lidder Stream in Anantnag met the prescribed standards, as did all seven locations on the Sindh Stream in Ganderbal.
‘Class B’ primary water quality standards are generally prescribed for outdoor bathing and require acceptable levels of dissolved oxygen, low biological oxygen demand and controlled fecal coliform levels.
In Doodh Ganga, monitored across Budgam and Srinagar, four out of ten locations failed in BOD, while six locations failed in respect of fecal coliform levels.
Dal Lake in Srinagar showed serious concerns, with none of its 21 monitored locations meeting the criteria in respect of BOD, though 19 locations met standards for fecal coliform.
At Nigeen Lake, all three monitored locations failed to meet ‘Class B’ standards in respect of BOD.
In Wular Lake, 13 monitoring locations were assessed. Eleven met general ‘Class B’ criteria, but three failed in BOD and only one location conformed in respect of fecal coliform.
Anchar Lake, monitored across Srinagar and Ganderbal, recorded non-compliance at four out of five locations in respect of BOD, DO and fecal coliform.
Hokersar in Budgam failed to meet standards at all three monitored locations in respect of BOD and DO. Manibugh in Pulwama also did not conform to ‘Class B’ standards in BOD and DO.
The data also records complete non-compliance at monitoring locations in Freshkoori, Chattalam and Kranchoo in Pulwama, Hygam in Baramulla, and Shallbugh in Ganderbal, where none of the monitored sites met ‘Class B’ criteria in respect of BOD and DO.
The official figures indicated that more than 80 percent of monitored wetlands in the Valley are failing to meet primary water quality standards, highlighting growing ecological stress on Kashmir’s water bodies.
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