Yamuna at entry to Delhi not fit for open bathing: CPCB

One day before the newest Delhi CM Rekha Gupta took six ministers to the Yamuna’s Vasudev ghat for Yamuna ‘aarti’ last Thursday, pledging to clean the river, soon after she took her oath at Ramlila Maidan, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) submitted a report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) stating that the water quality of the river at the Palla and Wazirabad monitoring stations were not even fit for bathing.

According to the CPCB report, the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) level at Palla was as high as 6 mg/litre and 5 mg/litre at Wazirabad on October 29, 2024. BOD is a parameter which measures the oxygen quality of water, the lower the better. It should be as little as 3 mg/litre to allow aquatic life. On December 16, 2024, the BOD rose dramatically to 13 mg/litre at Palla. On December 17, 2024, the BOD level at Wazirabad was 6 mg/litre.

Another parameter to assess sewage contamination, MPN, or Most Probable Number, was even more alarming.

The faecal coliform at Palla on December 16, 2024, was 9,400 MPN per 100 ml, which has to be less than 2,500 MPN/100 ml as per Primary Water Quality for Outdoor Bathing, the CPCB said. The MPN was within permissible limits at Wazirabad.

Palla and Wazirabad are two out of seven monitoring stations on the river between Palla, where the Yamuna enters Delhi from Haryana and finally leaves the capital to enter Uttar Pradesh at Asgarpur, a distance of 40 km. The Yamuna remains the primary source of water for Delhi’s 20 million residents.

In July 2024, media reports stated that several hundred small fish had died near Burari, a site on the river. The NGT took cognisance of the matter.

On the eve of the elections, the river’s pollution became the centre of a raging controversy between AAP and BJP with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini taking a sip of water at Palla after AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal alleged that it was BJP-ruled Haryana that had poisoned the water.

The CPCB carried out further tests, including at Drain No. 8 which joins Yamuna near Palla at Haryana border on December 17, 2024. The value of BOD was 39 mg/litre, but because this is a drain, the permissible value of pollutants is much higher, as much as 30 mg/litre, as per General Standards for Discharge of Environmental Pollutants under the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986.

CPCB also told the NGT that according to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), in January and June 2024, the BOD at Wazirabad was 6-9 mg/litre and faecal coliform was 400-3,500 MPN/100 ml.