The Krishna River (length 1400 km; basin area 26 mha) originates near Mahabaleshwar (1,337m) and traverses through the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The total domestic pollution load in its basin is 1,433 tons/day (50.6 per cent rural and 49.4 per cent urban). Of the total urban BOD load 707.82 tons/day) 22.4 percent is contributed by the industries amongst which men­tion may be made of the Pimpri Chinchwada New Corporation (Pune), Harihar Polyfibres Ltd. (Dharwar), Mysore Paper Mill (Bhadravati), Vishveswarya Iron and Steel Ltd. industrial com­plex at Rangareddy (AP) and distilleries in Vijayawada. Besides, the agricultural runoff from the annual consumption of 7,941 tones of pesti­cides adds 120 mg/1 of nitrogen, 26 mg/1 of phospho­rous and 31 mg/1 of potassium to the river.