pollution load runoff reaching the river stream the load from point sources urban wastewater and industrial effluent was significantly high 94 per cent including 79 per cent load from municipal sewage and 15 per cent load from the industries the industries that were contributing to high pollution content were mostly dying industry associated with banarasi saree industry the remaining six per cent was observed to be contributed by nonpoint sourcesthe jica had prepared a rs 439 crore detailed project report for improving the water quality of the ganga in the city a highlevel japanese delegation had also visited the city in march 2005 to review the progress of the study it had conducted the study in cooperation with the national river conservation directorate union ministry of environment and up government the main objective of the project was to formulate a master plan for water quality management of the river mainly focusing on the four major cities including varanasi allahabad kanpur and lucknow the first phase of gap has been completed and the second phase is in progress but the situation remains the same meanwhile the ganga was declared as the national river in november 2008 and the national ganga river basin authority ngrba came into existence in february 2009