WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN INDIA- ACHIEVEMENTS AND CONSTRAINTS R.M.Bhardwaj, Scientist ‘C’

Abstract India is rich in water resources, being endowed with a network of rivers and blessed with snow cover in the Himalayan range that can meet a variety of water re-quirements of the country. However, with the rapid increase in the population of the country and the need to meet the increasing demands of irrigation, human and industrial consumption, the available water resources in many parts of the country are getting de-pleted and the water quality has deteriorated. Indian rivers are polluted due to the dis-charge of untreated sewage and industrial effluents. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has established a network of monitoring stations on rivers across the country. The present network is comprising of 870 stations in 26 States and 5 Union Territories spread over the country. The monitoring is done on monthly or quarterly basis in surface waters and on half yearly basis in case of ground water. The monitoring network cover