Nag River Sewage In Gosikhurd, Admits NMC

Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has confirmed that untreated sewage flowing through the Nag River is ultimately polluting the Gosikhurd Dam, raising serious environmental and public health concerns. The admission came in a reply to a query raised under Right to Information (RTI) filed by former corporator Vedprakash Arya and shared by NMC's public health engineering department.Documents accessed through the RTI reveal that Nagpur generates approximately 520 million litres per day (MLD) of sewage. TOI also enquired and found that of this, the NMC along with the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) is currently treating around 423.5 MLD. While 320 MLD of treated sewage is being sold to Koradi and Khaparkheda thermal power stations, the remaining treated water is being discharged back into the Nag River flowing downstream into Gosikhurd.The data underscores a critical contradiction: even treated sewage is being released into the same river system the civic body aims to clean, effectively defeating the purpose of setting up sewage treatment plants (STPs). At the same time, a significant portion of untreated sewage continues to enter the river due to gaps in infrastructure.The civic body's records acknowledge the downstream impact but expose a glaring gap — there is no documented health survey conducted by the NMC's health dept to assess the effects of this pollution on populations dependent on Gosikhurd waters. Arya flagged serious concerns over the monitoring process, claiming that water samples were not collected from heavily polluted stretches in east Nagpur, potentially masking the river's true condition. The available test reports from Sept 2025, based on samples from relatively cleaner locations like Shankar Nagar showed low BOD and COD levels (below 5mg/L), adequate dissolved oxygen, and minimal bacterial contamination. However, these isolated findings contrast sharply with the broader pollution scenario acknowledged by the NMC itself.To address the crisis, the NMC is implementing the Rs 1,926.99 crore Nag River Pollution Abatement Project, funded by the Centre and state govts. The project includes construction of STPs, laying over 500 km of sewer pipelines, and development of pumping stations to intercept sewage. It is being executed with consultancy support from Tata Consulting Engineers and is expected to be completed within five years.Despite these efforts, continuous discharge — both treated and untreated — into the Nag River highlights systemic inefficiencies. Notably, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India flagged similar concerns in its audit report for local bodies ending March 31, 2010, blaming the NMC for pollution affecting Gosikhurd.The RTI findings bring into sharp focus the gap between infrastructure investment and environmental outcomes. With polluted flows continuing to reach a key irrigation source, the need for accountability, better monitoring, and course correction has become increasingly urgent.