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When Divya Shikhawal developed a fever in June 2023, her parents consulted a private hospital near their village, Shimlana Mu. But the doctors were unable to diagnose the ailment. With her blood platelet count plummeting, Shikhawal’s parents, who run a grocery shop in the village, located in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, took her to AIIMS Delhi, where tests revealed that the 17-year-old had blood cancer.
While Shikhawal survived, Satpal Singh, a sugarcane farmer in the same village, had to deal with a loss. Four years ago, his wife died due to liver cancer when she was 40 years old. Singh says the village has seen more than 100 cancer deaths in the last decade. With a population of about 7,700, as per the 2011 census, the village’s cancer incidence rate is 1.3 per cent, while the average incidence of cancer in India in 2022, as per a paper published the same year in Indian Journal of Medical Research, was roughly seven times lower at 0.1 per cent.
Both Singh and the Shikhawal family say that the source of their health problems is the Hindon, a 400-km rain-fed river emerging from the Shivalik Hills in Saharanpur. “Factories in Saharanpur release effluents into the river, especially during the rains, which contaminate the groundwater that we rely on for drinking and for all our domestic needs,” says Singh. Households in Shimlana Mu do not have piped water connection and most use hand pumps. A 2007 study by Janhit Foundation, a non-profit based in Meerut district, found lead and chromium in the village groundwater. When Down To Earth (DTE) visited the village in September, roads were being dug to instal pipes.
The Hindon runs through seven districts of Uttar Pradesh before joining the Yamuna in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. As per a 2023 compliance report submitted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the river supports a population of 19 million people along its banks. Its two major tributaries—the Krishni and the Kali West—also originate in Saharanpur to meet the Hindon in Baghpat and Meerut districts respectively. The two tributaries add to the Hindon’s pollution load.
A river has primarily two sources of pollution: industrial effluents (for which factories are required by law to instal effluent treatment plants) and domestic wastewater (which government bodies are mandated to treat in sewage treatment plants or STPs before releasing in waterbodies). CPCB’s 2023 compliance report estimates that along its course in the seven districts, the Hindon receives 72,170.9 kilolitres per day (KLD) of effluents from 357 industries, and 943.63 million litres per day (MLD) of domestic sewage.
Though the industries are equipped to treat effluents, they often do not, as shown by CPCB’s 2023 compliance report, which says closure orders were issued to 33 units in the seven districts, while 13 units were fined Rs 76.78 crore as “environmental compensation” in 2023-24. Similarly, the 16 STPS in the seven districts treat only about 711.6 MLD of the 943.6 MLD sewage generated, which means that over 220 MLD sewage is released into the Hindon without being treated.
The heavy pollution has been documented by CPCB, and the Hindon has consistently featured in the board’s “River Stretches for Restoration of Water Quality” reports as priority I river since 2015. This category is assigned to waterbodies when their biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels reach 30 mg per litre (mg/l). BOD gauges the oxygen needed by microbes to break down organic matter. As per CPCB standards, river water is fit for bathing when it has BOD of less than 3 mg/l. CPCB’s 2015 report estimates that the BOD level of the river from Saharanpur to Ghaziabad was 24-80 mg/l, which rose to 48-120 mg/l in the 2018 report and 54-126 mg/l in the latest 2022 report.
Chandraveer Singh, a retired senior scientist with the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and a part of the Doaba Paryavaran Samiti, an Uttar Pradesh-based non-profit, says, “The river is now a drain, carrying a mix of chemicals. The dissolved oxygen levels are zero in most parts of the river. No aquatic animal can survive in such sites.” Dissolved oxygen shows the amount of oxygen available to aquatic organisms. A value below 3 mg/l is too low to support fish. Dissolved oxygen drops when excess organic waste and industrial waste increase the demand for oxygen in the water. Some experts have already declared the Hindon dead. “It only carries industrial effluents and domestic waste. It does not meet the characteristics of a river and should not be called one,” says Sudhir Panwar, professor of molecular genetics, environment toxicology and genotoxicity at Lucknow University.
NGT made a similar observation in its July 7, 2020 order on the Hindon’s pollution, calling the river “practically dead”. The order notes: “The river and its tributaries started dying since 1980 with the establishment of about 316 various types of industries including paper, sugar, distilleries, chemicals and slaughterhouses along their banks.”
Over the past five decades, several studies have highlighted the rise in pollution in the Hindon, but government attention to the problem was drawn only in 2014, when the non-profit Doaba Paryavaran Samiti filed a case on pollution in the Hindon river with NGT. During the hearing, NGT directed studies on the issues and constituted committees to provide reports and to oversee Hindon’s restoration. It also asked Uttar Pradesh to seal contaminated hand pumps, supply potable water to the affected communities and set up health camps. “After 2015, the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam identified 148 villages affected by the Hindon, Kali and Krishni,” Singh tells DTE. Shimlana Mu is not identified by the state as one of the 148 villages affected by water pollution.
Since 2014, NGT has monitored Hindon’s pollution
1950s: First industries emerge in the Hindon basin
1970: Studies highlight Hindon pollution and its links to industries
1980s: Studies on heavy metal pollution of Hindon; in fish, plants
2007: Studies on link between the Hindon and groundwater pollution
2014: First case in the national Green Tribunal (NGT) on pollution of the Hindon and its two tributaries (Krishni and Kali West)
2015: NGT tasks state government to supply clean water to villages affected by Hindon and piped water
2017: Central Ground Water Authority says the source of groundwater contamination is not just natural but also anthropogenic
2018: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) finds sulphate, fluoride, heavy metals above accepted limits in groundwater in half of the locations tested in the seven Hindon districts
2019: In 68 health checkups by Uttar Pradesh, done as per NGT directions, 122 of the 7,520 people covered (1.6 per cent) found having cancer in Meerut, Saharanpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat
2020: NGT says progress in terms of piped water supply, health facilities and sewage treatment is insufficient
2021: NGT closes the case; asks the state to protect public health
2022: An activist files case with NGT against the seven district authorities for failing to prevent Hindon’s pollution
2023: NGT directs Uttar Pradesh to file criminal complaint against officers in charge of municipal bodies of the seven districts and initiate criminal prosecution of polluting industries
2024: NGT asks chief secretary of the state to file a report on actions taken/proposed; next hearing October 14
In 2021, NGT closed the case, when the piped connection had reached only 103 villages, and asked the state to undertake remedial measures to protect public health and the environment. In 2022, Abhist Kusum Gupta, a Noida-based activist, filed a case with NGT against administrative authorities of all the seven districts for failing to prevent and remediate pollution of the Hindon. The case is ongoing, with the next hearing scheduled for October 14.
In September 2024, DTE visited the seven Hindon districts to understand the issues behind the pollution and the impact on the people, starting with Shahnsara valley about 6 km from the river source in the Upper Shivalik Hills, and following the river course.
“Only a narrow stream, Shahnsara, traverses this valley, with a large part of the riverbed exposed. It supplies water to the Hindon only in the monsoon, when the entire riverbed fills up. This is a healthy ecosystem and there is no pollution,” says Umar Saif, a scientist with the Dehradun-based non-profit Himalayan Institute for Environment, Ecology and Development, and a resident of Shahnsara valley. “The first major source of pollution is a few kilometres downstream, when industries and habitations begin to emerge on its banks,” he says.
More than 45 industries are in Saharanpur, as per CPCB’s 2023 compliance report. Three effluent drains join the Hindon in the upper section, dumping industrial effluents and waste from nearby villages, states “Comprehensive Report on Prevention and Control of Pollution in River Hindon: An Action Plan for Rejuvenation”, a 2018 CPCB report. Overall, 12 drains empty into the Hindon in the district.
From Saharanpur, two rivers flow to Muzaffarnagar: the Hindon and the Kali West. The district has 56 industries. Once the river enters the district, as many as 19 drains discharge industrial and domestic sewage into it.
The Kali West carries the polluted waters to the Hussainpur Bopara village, which has a population of 10,267. This was one of the first of the 148 villages to receive piped water, but the quality is not good, say residents. “When my father was diagnosed with liver infection a decade ago, the doctor said that the water was the source of the problem and asked us to use the reverse osmosis (RO) system. We cannot afford that,” says Gaurav Dixit, a sugarcane farmer. “Private hospitals are increasingly setting up health camps in the village in the absence of government health camps,” Dixit adds.
Jaundice and cancer cases are common in the district, Mahavir Singh Faujdar, the chief medical officer (CMO) of Muzaffarnagar, tells DTE. “Lead and other heavy metals can mix with blood, which carries them to different organs, causing diseases where it settles,” he says.
District malaria officer Alka says health camps are conducted in all affected villages once or twice a year. “A 2016 survey of all affected villages concluded that cancer incidence was less than one case per 1,000 people, which is normal. Cancer could arise from genetics, foods, smoking or tobacco. Any direct link to pollution could not be made,” she says. The survey, however, could not rule out water pollution since no long-term study was done. “We did not test blood samples for heavy metals, because each test can cost up to Rs 12,000. We do not have the funds,” she adds.
Carrying discharge from industrial units in its catchment, sewage from Muzaffarnagar city and nearby town and village, the Kali West flows into Meerut, which has five industries and two drains carrying the waste into the river. The Kali West merges with Hindon at Pithlokar village. With a population of 9,375, the village does not have a piped water supply, which means residents are forced to use hand pumps. Asif, a labourer, has to hike 2 km to get water from a community hand pump. “Sometimes, we end up using our hand pump, which draws black water and stinks. We cannot dig deeper for cleaner water. It is too expensive,” he says. All his six children have skin infections. The village pradhan, Mohammad Sayyad, says Pithlokar will get piped water connections in a year. It is not a part of the 148 villages that were shortlisted to get piped water.
The Hindon’s other major tributary, the Krishni, flows to Shamli district, where it receives industrial discharge from six industries and untreated domestic sewage because it has no STP. DTE visited Sikka, which is home to the Sikka drain (a mixed drain receiving industrial and domestic wastes) and receives piped water. Vinod, a labourer who lives in a hut adjacent to the drain, says the standing water is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. He complains of a chronic cough. “I have noticed that I get better every time I leave the village,” he says.
Sikka houses one factory, Maruti Papers Private Ltd, which, say village residents, discharges effluents into the drain. DTE saw brown cardboard discharge flowing into the drain. Ankit Singh, regional pollution officer of Shamli and Muzaffarnagar, says that the company follows zero liquid discharge, a wastewater management system that ensures no discharge of industrial wastewater is released into the environment. “The company cannot discharge treated or untreated industrial effluents. We have taken action against them in the past,” he says.
Next, the Krishni flows to Baghpat district, where it merges with Hindon near Barnawa village, dumping discharge from industrial units in its catchment and sewage from nearby villages. The district has one industry and a drain that carries industrial and untreated domestic waste (because it has no STP) into the Hindon. After the merger, the river passes adjacent to Mukari village, which has a population of 4,000 people.
Raj Kumar, principal of a college in the district and a resident of the village, explains that Mukari has many cases of cancer, skin infections and dental and liver problems. “I know of at least three people with cancer and at least four who have died of the ailment in the past decade,” he says. Suruchi Sharma, a public health expert at the CMO office in Baghpat district hospital, says the district conducted a survey in 2022-23. “It did not find any conclusive evidence to prove any prevalence of a disease in the district,” she says.
Shivkumar Tyagi, a former pradhan of Mukari, disagrees. “I do not recall any health survey being done. My brother Sunil, a farmer, was diagnosed with bladder cancer five years ago,” he says, adding that health issues in the village are due to the Hindon contaminating groundwater. “We now use a submersible motor to pump water from 75 m below the surface. Not everyone can instal such a motor because it can costs up to Rs 40,000,” he says.
The river makes its way into Ghaziabad, where it receives wastes from 12 drains. The district has 219 industries, says regional pollution officer Vikas Misra.
Magram, a resident of Nekpur village, which sits adjacent to the Hindon and has a population of 6,404, says the river stays black round the year, except in monsoon. “Some of the community hand pumps, which are 35 m deep, draw red water. People and cattle drink it. We also consume dairy products, like milk, which could be contaminated,” says Magram, whose wife Parsandi has lived with a damaged liver for the last decade. Manoj Kumar, a labourer, also relies on hand pump water. “The government provided piped water five years ago but we do not use as sewage often enters water pipeline,” he says.
Near Momnathal village, which has a population of 1,000 people, the Hindon meets the Yamuna. Nem Singh, a farmer based in the village, says that many people have had kidney stones and jaundice. “A few also had cancer,” he says. “The government installed piped water connections a decade ago, but they are often not functional,” he adds.
Despite the issues, Gupta says Hindon does not get enough attention. “Untreated industrial discharge should stop. STPs should meet their norms. All drains should be connected to STPs,” he says. Of the 50-odd drains that empty into the Hindon, only three are connected to STPS, as per CPCB’s 2023 compliance report. “The river flows, perhaps, through the country’s most populous stretch. The region is a very important food basket,” he says.
Studies document rise in Hindon’s pollution over past decades
Industries emerged in Western Uttar Pradesh in the 1950s and the first scientific reports highlighting the deteriorating quality of Hindon emerged in the 1970s. The first paper in 1975, published in Acta Hydrochimica et Hydrobiologica by researchers from DAV College, Muzaffarnagar, investigated how the effluent discharge impacted fisheries in the river Kali West, a major tributary of the Hindon.
Studies on heavy metals began to emerge in the 1980s. Heavy metals are metallic chemical elements known for their high density and toxicity even at low concentrations. A 1987 report in Hydrobiologica analysed the concentrations of heavy metals in the water, sediments, fish, and plants of the Hindon in 1982.
In the 2000s, more studies emerged, highlighting how pervasive the problem had become. A 2007 study by the Janhit Foundation, a non-profit based in Meerut, reported how the river contaminated the groundwater, impacting the health of the community downstream of Saharanpur.
The team also studied three heavy metals–lead (high exposure can severely damage the brain and central nervous system causing coma, convulsions and even death), cadmium (affects kidneys, skeletal and respiratory systems) and chromium (carcinogen)–which accumulate in water or settle as sediments as they do not easily break down in the environment. Lead, cadmium and chromium levels within the Hindon river were up to 179 times, over nine times, and up to 123 times higher than the permissible limits.
A May 2024 study in Environmental Quality Management found that heavy metals such as cadmium, copper (damages the liver), chromium, lead and manganese (affects the central nervous system) exceeded permissible limits at various sites in Ghaziabad. The Water Quality Index, a score that combines various physicochemical parameters, exceeded 100 at all sites in the study, indicating that it is unsuitable for human consumption. The chronic daily intake, which measures the intake of metals through ingestion and skin exposure, was higher in children compared to adults, especially for metals like manganese and lead, meaning that children suffer a higher risk.
This was first published in the 16-31 October, 2024 print edition of Down To Earth