Yamuna faces threat from untreated waste: House panel
Neeraj Mohan
New Delhi, February 7
Delhi’s vital water source, the Yamuna river, is facing a severe pollution crisis due to untreated effluents, biomedical waste and illegal dumping of construction debris (malba), posing an imminent threat, according to a comprehensive report from the parliamentary standing committee on water resources. The alarming findings shed light on the critical need for urgent interventions to protect the river’s health.
The committee’s 27th report, titled ‘Review of Upper Yamuna River Cleaning Projects Up to Delhi and River Bed Management in Delhi’, reveals that the 22-km stretch of the Yamuna in Delhi is responsible for a staggering 75 to 80 per cent of the pollution in the entire river. The report of the committee, chaired by Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel, emphasises the pressing requirement for corrective measures to curb this escalating pollution.
Based on insights from the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, the report reveals that the discharge of untreated, partially treated and treated wastewater is a significant contributor to the escalating pollution in the Yamuna and its tributaries. The increasing population and subsequent wastewater generation have compounded the issue, with approximately 80 per cent of the pollution load attributed to untreated sewage from municipalities.
According to the report, the Yamuna in Delhi fails to meet prescribed parameters for a healthy fish environment, particularly downstream of the Wazirabad barrage after meeting Najafgarh drain to Asgarpur village. Dissolved oxygen levels in this stretch are frequently nil, resulting in incidents of dead fish washing ashore in Agra. Fish kills in the Yamuna are attributed to multiple factors, including sewage discharge, industrial effluents, lean flow in the river and inadequate infrastructure for wastewater treatment.
The report underscores identified gaps in sewage generation and treatment capacity in Delhi, where estimated sewage generation stands at 3,600 million litres per day (MLD).
The existing treatment capacity utilisation of the 35 sewage treatment plants (STPs) is 2,874 MLD, revealing a concerning gap of 1,114 MLD due to 22 non-compliant STPs.
There are 28 approved industrial areas in Delhi, out of which 17 are connected with the 13 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs). Most of the units operating in the remaining 11 approved industrial areas are non-water polluting, but gaps are identified in sewage generation and treatment capacity, as revealed by the report.
Additionally, the report highlights the generation of 11,376 tonnes per day (TPD) of waste in Delhi, with processing capacity at 8,219 TPD and actual capacity utilisation at 7,529 TPD, indicating a substantial gap of 3,157 TPD. To address these gaps, additional Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) facilities with a total capacity of 6,470 TPD are proposed to be installed by December 2027.
The report also exposes the presence of 210 grossly polluting industries in Delhi, consuming 15.28 million litres of freshwater daily and discharging 2.4 MLDs of untreated effluent into the Yamuna, further contributing to the pollution load.
