Gomti River

The Gomti, Gumti or Gomati River is a river flowing entirely within the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a tributary of the Ganges.

The Gomti River, fed by monsoons and groundwater, begins its journey at Gomat Taal, near Madhotanda, in Pilibhit district. Then it meets a small river, the Gaihaaee, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from its origin. The Gomti is a narrow stream until it reaches Mohammadi Kheri, a tehsil of Lakhimpur Kheri district (about 68 kilometres (42 mi)from its origin), where it is joined by tributaries such as the Sukheta, Choha and Andhra Choha. The river is then well-defined, with the Kathina tributary joining it at Mailani and Sarayan joining it at a village in Sitapur district. A major tributary is the Sai River, which joins the Gomti near Jaunpur. The Markandey Mahadeo temple is at the confluence of the Gomti and the Ganges.

After 190 kilometres (120 mi) the Gomti enters Lucknow, meandering through the city for about 30 kilometres (19 mi) and supplying its water. In the Lucknow area, 25 city drains pour untreated sewage into the river. At the downstream end, the Gomti barrage converts the river into a lake.

In addition to Lucknow, Gola Gokaran Nath, Misrikh, Neemsar, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur Kerakat and Jaunpur, Zafarabad are the most prominent of the 20 towns in the river's catchment basin. The river cuts the Sultanpur district and Jaunpur in half, becoming wider in the city.

According to Hindu belief, the river is the daughter of Rishi Vashishtha and bathing in the Gomti on Ekadashi (the 11th day of the two lunar phases of the Hindu calendar month) can wash away sins. According to the Bhagavata Purana, one of Hinduism's major religious works, Gomti is one of the five transcendental rivers of India. The rare Gomti Chakra is found there.

The Gomti River is polluted at several points of its course through the 940-kilometre (580 mi) stretch of alluvial plains in Uttar Pradesh. The major sources of pollution are industrial waste and effluent from sugar factories and distilleries and residential wastewater and sewage.

The river and its tributaries, such as Kukrail Drainage, collect large amounts of human and industrial pollutants as they flow through an area of about 18 million people. High pollution levels threaten the Gomti's aquatic life. On 25 July 2008, the foundation stone of a 345-million-litre (91,000,000 US gal)-capacity sewage treatment plant was laid.

The plant, promoted as Asia's largest, failed; in 2014 it was reportedly running at 10 percent of capacity, and beyond the plant (near Bharwara) untreated sewage and solid waste entered the river. The plant was intended to intercept the 23 major natural drains entering the Gomti.