Cleaning Yamuna River Learning from International Examples

This insightful article by Sonia Grover and Charu Bhanot is an outcome of literature survey done for a project for two basins-Yamuna and Musi rivers. The article talks about the challenges and reflections from best practices at international scale that could be used as learning to improve water quality of the basins.

- Sonia Grover and Charu Bhanot

Delhi, the capital city of India, is an important commercial, cultural, and political hub. Yamuna is considered as the lifeline of Delhi, given its significance in meeting water demand of the city and the cultural significance attached to it. Delhi government in its Assembly held in March 2022 addressed that Delhi has a water demand of 1200 million gallons per day (MGD) and it is likely to increase to 1505 MGD this year due to the prevailing heat wave in India. The city has one of the highest per capita consumptions of 240 litres in the country. Additionally, Delhi generates 744 million gallons sewage per day and has a treatment capacity of 597 MGD. The 22-km stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla is the most polluted stretch and this is just 2 per cent of the total river length that falls under Delhi. Reports suggest that the stretch accounts for 70 per cent of total pollution in the Yamuna River. Increasing water demand and deteriorating water quality is a cause of worry for both users and decision-makers. There have been many plans and propositions for reviving Yamuna River. Latest one is the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) in its NCR Regional Plan-2041, proposed Zero discharge of industrial waste and untreated sewage into the Yamuna River by the year 2026. There have been initiatives like Yamuna Action Plan and many small-scale efforts but the state of river has not improved much.

Some of the major causes of river pollution in Delhi are as follows: