The plan to clean up the Yamuna is flawed. It is based on the concept of interceptors, which may not work due to lack of freshwater reserves. By SAURABH KUMAR SHAHI
There is a thing about river cleaning projects. Whether you really
clean a river or not, the results can seldom be assessed through the naked eyes. All the other parameters are relative and ambiguous. No wonder, various governments have been able to use the lacunae for their benefit. This is true in the case of both the ambitious projects to clean up north India’s Yamuna and Ganga rivers.
Let’s talk about Yamuna first, whose clean-up drive was initiated by the Delhi government. First, the facts: close to Rs.1,500 crores has been spent in an attempt to clean up the 22.4 km stretch of Yamuna in Delhi. It is being done through the “interceptor plan.” Even if we don’t consider the financial implications, there are other loopholes in the project. Firstly, there is problem at the sewage assessment level. The project is not based on any bonafide estimate of the quantity of sewage that is spawned in the city.
In addition, the project overlook similar failures in other places such as Agra and Varanasi that are situated at the downstream stretch of the river. So, the conclusion is that even if cogently pressed through, the river will require millions of litres of freshwater to dilute the intercepted and treated mess. The question is: are there enough freshwater reserves?
Actually, the interceptor plan is nothing but a watered-down version of the Rs.3,150 crores scheme, originally mooted by the Delhi Jal Board in 2006. It involves laying 50 kms of interceptors, 2-3 metres in diameter, to intercept 150 small drains discharging into three major
The Delhi state government plans to add another 50 kms of sewers at a cost of Rs.1,950 crores along the three major drains to intercept sewage from 150 minor drains, from where the sewage will be passed on to pumping stations and, finally, transported to the sewage treatment plants. The Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) has dealt with the issue of cleaning up of the Yamuna, which is a ‘relatively’ clean river till it enters Delhi but transforms into a murky sewer by the time it leaves the Capital. While the Yamuna Action Plan that focused on sewerage systems has not yielded the desired results, the CSE suggests an alternative rehabilitation plan aimed at minimising waste, and its treatment and recycling closer to the source.
Moreover, unless all the unauthorised colonies of Delhi are regularised and fitted with a proper sewerage system, no government scheme for cleaning of the Yamuna river would be successful. This fact has also been admitted by the union urban development ministry, and the Delhi state government in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.
The same is the case with similar plans to clean up the river at other places in India. Agra spent Rs.77.75 crores on cleaning the Yamuna till September 2005; it is the second most expensive town under the Yamuna Action Plan in Uttar Pradesh. But inspite of this investment, the pollution loads in the river in Agra have increased by 180% from 90 MLD in 1996 to 254 MLD in 2005. The faecal coli form count, which indicates the presence of disease-causing micro-organisms, is 25,000 times more than the limit prescribed for bathing.
“In fact, Agra and Mathura have been at the receiving end of pollution from Delhi. The Yamuna’s 22 km stretch in Delhi is barely 2% of the length of the river, but contributes over 70% of the pollution load,” says S. V. Suresh Babu, Deputy Coordinator, River Pollution Campaign, CSE. In Delhi, the river has virtually no freshwater for nine months. Delhi impounds all its water at Wazirabad, where the dammed-up river practically ceases to exist. What flows subsequently is only sewage and waste from Delhi’s 22 drains. There is just no freshwater available to dilute this waste.
There is a thing about river cleaning projects. Whether you really
clean a river or not, the results can seldom be assessed through the naked eyes. All the other parameters are relative and ambiguous. No wonder, various governments have been able to use the lacunae for their benefit. This is true in the case of both the ambitious projects to clean up north India’s Yamuna and Ganga rivers.Let’s talk about Yamuna first, whose clean-up drive was initiated by the Delhi government. First, the facts: close to Rs.1,500 crores has been spent in an attempt to clean up the 22.4 km stretch of Yamuna in Delhi. It is being done through the “interceptor plan.” Even if we don’t consider the financial implications, there are other loopholes in the project. Firstly, there is problem at the sewage assessment level. The project is not based on any bonafide estimate of the quantity of sewage that is spawned in the city.
In addition, the project overlook similar failures in other places such as Agra and Varanasi that are situated at the downstream stretch of the river. So, the conclusion is that even if cogently pressed through, the river will require millions of litres of freshwater to dilute the intercepted and treated mess. The question is: are there enough freshwater reserves?
Actually, the interceptor plan is nothing but a watered-down version of the Rs.3,150 crores scheme, originally mooted by the Delhi Jal Board in 2006. It involves laying 50 kms of interceptors, 2-3 metres in diameter, to intercept 150 small drains discharging into three major
The Delhi state government plans to add another 50 kms of sewers at a cost of Rs.1,950 crores along the three major drains to intercept sewage from 150 minor drains, from where the sewage will be passed on to pumping stations and, finally, transported to the sewage treatment plants. The Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) has dealt with the issue of cleaning up of the Yamuna, which is a ‘relatively’ clean river till it enters Delhi but transforms into a murky sewer by the time it leaves the Capital. While the Yamuna Action Plan that focused on sewerage systems has not yielded the desired results, the CSE suggests an alternative rehabilitation plan aimed at minimising waste, and its treatment and recycling closer to the source.
Moreover, unless all the unauthorised colonies of Delhi are regularised and fitted with a proper sewerage system, no government scheme for cleaning of the Yamuna river would be successful. This fact has also been admitted by the union urban development ministry, and the Delhi state government in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.
The same is the case with similar plans to clean up the river at other places in India. Agra spent Rs.77.75 crores on cleaning the Yamuna till September 2005; it is the second most expensive town under the Yamuna Action Plan in Uttar Pradesh. But inspite of this investment, the pollution loads in the river in Agra have increased by 180% from 90 MLD in 1996 to 254 MLD in 2005. The faecal coli form count, which indicates the presence of disease-causing micro-organisms, is 25,000 times more than the limit prescribed for bathing.
“In fact, Agra and Mathura have been at the receiving end of pollution from Delhi. The Yamuna’s 22 km stretch in Delhi is barely 2% of the length of the river, but contributes over 70% of the pollution load,” says S. V. Suresh Babu, Deputy Coordinator, River Pollution Campaign, CSE. In Delhi, the river has virtually no freshwater for nine months. Delhi impounds all its water at Wazirabad, where the dammed-up river practically ceases to exist. What flows subsequently is only sewage and waste from Delhi’s 22 drains. There is just no freshwater available to dilute this waste.
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