This river Stinks

With waste and effluents being dumped into the Yamuna at uncontrollable levels, the river could soon cease to be functional

Akash Bisht Delhi

In India, rivers are worshipped, yet severely polluted. They nurture cities, towns and communities, but end up receiving the filth and waste generated by the same people who consider them sacred. The Yamuna, which flows by Delhi, is no different. Despite numerous efforts to clean it, it only seems to be getting filthier with every passing year. Experts claim that the river is 'virtually dead' when it reaches downstream with Delhi being responsible for 79 per cent of the total pollution load.

Yamuna traverses 1,375 kilometres from its source in Uttarakhand to Allahabad and maintains a good quality of water till it reaches Wazirabad in Delhi. In Delhi, 15 drains discharge their wastewater in the river, making it the most polluted river in the country with BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) levels ranging from 14 to 28 mg/l without any dissolved oxygen. Its 22 kilometre stretch in Delhi has hardly any fresh water in it and what flows is only sewage and pollutants.

Delhi generates about 3,267 million litres per day (mld) of sewage while the city's installed wastewater treatment capacity is only 2,330 mld. More than 937 mld of waste is not treated. Adding to the river's woes, out of Delhi's 2330 mld treatment capacity, more than 37 per cent is under-utilised and 1270 mld of sewage is untreated and let to flow in the river everyday. Suresh Babu, Deputy Coordinator, River Pollution Unit, Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, says: “Delhi's treatment plants are immensely under-utilised and it can be attributed to various factors. There is a shortage of power and fresh water for dilution and the government has not done much to overcome this problem. They have cleared Rs 1,950 crore to tap drains carrying sewage from colonies not connected to city sewers. It's a temporary solution to the problem of tapping untreated sewage reaching the river but interceptors have failed in Agra, Varanasi and other places.”

To make the water fit for bathing, Yamuna needs at least 24,000 mld of fresh water for dilution, but where is the fresh water? The river lacks fresh water for almost nine months, hence a negligible amount of fresh water is let out in the river. The river has a dilution requirement of 75 per cent, implying that for every 100 litres of wastewater, 75 litres of freshwater is required. Scientists state that with the flow of fresh water, pollutants (especially organic pollutants) degrade to a large extent. But at every step, this purified water is extracted, and larger loads of pollution make their way into the river.   

Reports have confirmed that the situation is worse during the summer months when only wastewater and industrial effluents flow downstream of Wazirabad. “Since there is no fresh water downstream of Wazirabad, one can imagine what flows in Yamuna. During this dry period, discharges from the Shahadara drain also join the river downstream of the Okhla barrage, bringing effluents from east Delhi and Noida into the river,” informs RC Trivedi, Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi. Yamuna has no fresh water upstream during the dry periods and it is only during the monsoon that river has some fresh water, and whatever water reaches Wazirabad is impounded for the city's consumption. In dry periods, the water table is very low so if water is released it is soon absorbed by the river bed. Trivedi informs, “If you release 10 cusecs of water then it won't flow for long and will soon be absorbed by the river bed.”