“Yamuna is Delhi’s lifeline, the largest tributary of Ganga, and an important river in itself,” quips a friend while discussing the sordid state of Yamuna, which once again is in the news. Last year on the Christmas Day, the Yamuna cleansing mission by the BJP workers and many more volunteers was lauded by citizens across board. The river needs cleansing of the shores, as well as of the water that flows. One may ask how bad the situation is. To assess the situation correctly, one has to delve deep into the statistics, to highlight the danger looming large on our favourite water body. The river enters Delhi from Palla village, 15 km upstream of Wazirabad barrage, the reservoir for Delhi, generates 1900 million litre/day (mld) of sewage, against an installed wastewater treatment capacity of 1270 mld. Therefore, the remaining 630 mld of untreated and partially treated sewage enter the river every day.
The Wazirabad barrage throws out very little water, so especially in summer time; the only flow downstream of Wazirabad is of the industrial and sewage effluents. Technically, lesser the river flow, more the pollution. Discharges from the Shahadra drain and the Najafgarh drain are the highest polluters of the river Yamuna. Scientists reveal that the real problem is the undetected and untreated pesticide residues, which can’t be removed with conventional treatment. For micropollutants such as pesticides, only fresh water can reduce the percentage of traces in the water, in most cases, they can’t be dissolved but diluted.
The recent report on Yamuna also revealed that the dilution requirement is 75%, which means that for every 100 litres of waste water, 75 litres of fresh water is required. Hence, Government of India, the Swach Bharat Committee has a challenge at hand. Recently, the Central Pollution Control Board told Supreme Court the main reasons for the 22-km course through Delhi to stink like a sewer drain. Going against the norm of 5,000 MPN coliform per 100 ml of water, Yamuna water in Delhi had between 4 lakh to 16 crore coliform per 100 ml. The norm of 5,000 MPN/100 ml of water is the quality prescribed for ‘C’ category of water, which is fit for drinking after treatment. But, on January 7, 2014, the total coliform in Yamuna water at Nizamuddin was 54000000 (5.4 crore) and at Kalindi Kunj it was 160000000 (16 crore).
Despite 21 years of intense SC monitoring, Delhi appeared to be the biggest culprit in polluting the river. Surprisingly, the water quality of Yamuna at Palla when it enters Delhi meets the standard of “A” grade water, which is fit for drinking without conventional treatment.
But at the rest of the places through the city, the water doesn’t even qualify to the standard of “C” grade water and was declared unfit for even bathing. ” I was shocked to read the report. The water that we get in our bathrooms are extremely harsh even on our hair,” says Harsh, an activist working on Yamuna. The CPCB also submitted the quality of water in 22 drains that joins Yamuna during its course through Delhi.
A joint report by CPCB and DJB had informed the court a year ago that the situation would get worse as “wastewater generation due to growth of urban population will be substantial and may be in the range of about 5,000 to 6,000 MLD respectively for the corresponding years 2021 and 2031”. These are some hard-hitting numbers that have been in public space for some time, and this can serve as a reminder. It is time that we look beyond politics to save our water bodies.
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