Industrial Discharge Into a River: How to Complain

Complain in writing to the regional office of the State Pollution Control Board, giving the exact location of the outfall, the times it discharges, and what the water looks like upstream and downstream of it, and ask the board to sample at the outfall and in the river. Copy the District Magistrate and the CPCB. If the river crosses into another state, send it to both state boards. A river complaint differs from an ordinary effluent complaint mainly in one way: the river dilutes and carries the pollution away, so the evidence has to be caught at the point of entry and at the right time.

This guide is for people who live, farm or fish along a river and can see an industrial drain, pipe or tanker putting something into it. It explains how to find the source, how to write a complaint that a board officer can act on, and what to do when fish die, when several units share one drain, or when the river crosses a state boundary.

For the general rules on effluent wherever it ends up, see our guide on complaining about untreated industrial effluent. For construction and encroachment along rivers, start at our page on river pollution and floodplain cases.

The essentials

A factory is discharging into the river near us. How do I complain?

In writing, to the regional office of your State Pollution Control Board, with enough detail for an officer to find the outfall without you. Under the Water Act, no industry may discharge into a stream without the board's consent, and a stream includes a river. The consent order for most units either forbids any discharge (zero liquid discharge) or allows treated effluent only at a fixed outlet within set limits. Coloured, foaming or foul water entering the river from an industrial pipe or drain is a sign that one of those conditions is being broken.

Your complaint should give the location of the outfall (a landmark and, if possible, coordinates from your phone), the name of the unit or industrial area it comes from if you know it, the days and times you have seen discharge, and what the river looks like just above and just below the outfall. Attach dated photos and short videos. Ask, in plain words, for an inspection, sampling at the outfall and in the river upstream and downstream, and action under section 33A of the Water Act.

Send copies to the District Magistrate and the CPCB. If the outfall is in an industrial estate, copy the industrial development corporation, which controls the estate's drains. If the stretch is in the Ganga basin, the river authorities set up for the Ganga also have a role. Keep a diary number or email acknowledgment for each.

How do I find out which factory is polluting the river?

Walk it back. Industrial pollution reaches a river in three ways: a unit's own pipe straight into the river, a drain from an industrial area carrying effluent from many units, or tankers emptying at the bank. A direct pipe is the easiest case, because the source is obvious. An industrial drain is harder, because many units feed it. Follow the drain upstream and look at where side channels or pipes join it, which ones are coloured or smelling, and which units they come from. Do this at the times discharge usually happens, which is often late at night, early morning or during rain.

If several units share one drain, you do not need to prove which one is responsible before complaining. Ask the board to sample at the drain's mouth and at the outlet of each unit along it. Many highly polluting units are also required by CPCB directions to install online continuous effluent monitoring, with data sent to the board; ask by RTI for that data and for each unit's consent conditions. A unit whose monitor shows a gap or a flat line at the hours you saw discharge has questions to answer.

What you see in the river, and what to ask the board to test

These are common signs and the kind of tests that usually follow. Only a laboratory can confirm what is in the water, so describe what you see and let the board decide the parameters.

Sediment at the outfall can be tested too. It holds what has been discharged over weeks and months, which helps where a unit discharges only occasionally.

How to complain about industrial discharge into a river

Follow these steps in order. The first four can be done in a week.

When Advocate B.K. Singh takes up a river pollution complaint, he looks first for upstream and downstream evidence from the same day, because it answers the unit's standard reply that the river was already polluted before it reached them.

Fish are dying in the river. What should we do right away?

Act the same day. A fish kill is often caused by a slug of effluent or a sudden drop in dissolved oxygen, and within a day or two the river has carried the cause downstream and the dead fish have been eaten or have rotted. Photograph and video the dead fish along with the location and time, note how far along the river they extend, and look for an outfall or drain upstream of where they start. Inform the State Board's regional office and the district fisheries department by phone and in writing, asking them to sample the water and the fish immediately.

If you can, collect water in clean bottles from the affected stretch and from above it, and keep a few dead fish on ice, but understand that your own samples are mainly to push the authorities and support your account, not to replace official sampling. Fishermen's societies should record the loss of catch and nets, because this is the basis of any later claim for compensation.

What if the pollution comes through a CETP or an industrial area drain?

Then there may be two layers of responsibility. Many industrial areas have a common effluent treatment plant (CETP) that receives effluent from member units, treats it and discharges the treated water, sometimes into a river. If the CETP is overloaded, poorly run or bypassing its treatment, the CETP operator is responsible, and units sending effluent that exceeds its inlet norms are responsible too. The industrial development corporation that runs the estate is often part of the problem, because the estate's stormwater drains end up carrying effluent.

In such cases, ask the board to sample at the CETP's inlet and outlet, at the stormwater drain mouth, and at selected units. Name the CETP operator and the corporation in your complaint. Our guide on CETP compliance explains how these plants are regulated, and the guide on zero liquid discharge covers units that are not supposed to discharge anything at all.

The river carries the pollution into another state. Who acts?

The board of the state where the unit sits has the main power over that unit, because its consent and its enforcement apply there. But residents of the downstream state are entitled to complain to their own board and to the CPCB, which can issue directions to a state board under the Water Act and coordinate between them. In an NGT case, both state boards, both state governments and the CPCB can be made respondents, and the bench is usually chosen by where the cause of action arose.

Inter-state cases take longer because each side tends to blame the other's drains and towns. Joint sampling, done by both boards together on the same day at the border and at the outfalls, is the fairest way to settle that, and it is a reasonable thing to ask the CPCB or the tribunal to order.

What to put in your file

Can fishermen and farmers claim compensation?

Yes. Section 15 of the NGT Act allows relief and compensation for victims of pollution, including loss of livelihood, damage to property such as nets, crops and cattle, and restoration of the environment, within 5 years of when the cause of action first arose. The NGT applies the polluter pays principle, and compensation is assessed on the evidence, which is why records made at the time matter so much. A claim supported by the fisheries department's report of the kill and the society's record of catch is far stronger than one based on recollection two years later.

Where compensation is claimed, the court fee is 1% of the amount claimed, subject to a minimum of ₹1,000, so claim a reasoned figure rather than an inflated one. Our page on compensation for pollution damage explains how such claims are built.

What happens if the case reaches the NGT?

Usually the tribunal first issues notice and forms a joint committee, often of the CPCB, the State Board and the District Magistrate, to inspect the outfalls, sample the river and report within a few weeks. Your role at that stage is to make sure the committee sees every outfall, at the right time, and to file objections if the report misses something. Our guides on objections to a joint committee report and laboratory evidence before the NGT cover this.

On the report, the tribunal may direct the board to close or disconnect units found discharging, levy environmental compensation, require the CETP or the corporation to upgrade, and set timelines for compliance. Many cases are disposed of with such directions, and if they are not followed, an execution application follows.

If your unit is accused of discharging into a river

Check your consent conditions and your own records before replying. Boards look at whether the unit's discharge point matches its consent, whether flow meters and online monitors are working and recording, whether the ETP is running at capacity, and whether there is any bypass line or stormwater connection carrying effluent. A unit that finds a problem should fix it at once and say so in its reply with evidence, because conduct after the complaint matters.

If the board's sample was taken in the shared drain rather than at your outlet, or if another source upstream explains the result, say that clearly and ask for joint sampling. A direction under section 33A can be appealed to the NGT under section 33B within 30 days. Advocate B.K. Singh's advice to units in this position is that a precise technical reply, with monitoring data and photographs of the outlet, does more than any legal argument.

Why river pollution complaints fail

Most fail for lack of a specific outfall and time. "The river is polluted by factories" gives an officer nothing to inspect. Others fail because the only evidence is from weeks after the event, when the river has flushed itself. Some fail because people complain only to the DM or the police, who have no power to sample, and never to the board. And some fail because the complaint names one unit when the drain carries effluent from twenty, and the board's sample at that unit's outlet comes back clean.

Be honest about the limits too. Many rivers carry both town sewage and industrial effluent, and a complaint aimed at industry alone may miss the larger source. Where sewage is the main problem, see our guide on town sewage in a lake or river. And where the drain carrying effluent has also been built over, our guide on natural drain encroachment may help.

Before you send the complaint

Related guides

Our topic page on industrial effluent and water pollution covers effluent that ends up in canals, ponds, open land and borewells as well as rivers. Some river cases involve both pollution and construction, for example a unit that has also walled off part of the bank or filled the floodplain to expand; for that side of the problem, see our guide on what the law allows on a river floodplain. And if the effluent has already reached the handpumps and wells of riverside villages, the evidence needed is different, because groundwater moves slowly and the source has to be shown by testing over time.