Delhi Jal Board targets March 2023 for a clean Yamuna

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has planned four interventions to clean Yamuna by March 2023, including treating polluted water from Haryana and UP and generating power and gas from septic tank waste. In a meeting between Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and DJB officials on Wednesday, a plan to reuse treated water was also discussed.

“The Delhi government will set up a modern technology to treat around 150 MGD of polluted water coming from the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by natural wetlands and aeration method. Second, the wastewater in drains will be tapped into sewage treatment plants (STPs). Third, steps will be taken to improve the quality of the existing STPs, including upgrading equipment and using innovative processes. Fourth, all sludge and septage from septic tanks across Delhi will be collected by DJB and reused in the bio-gas plants to generate electricity and gas,” the government said.

For almost three decades, successive governments, courts and tribunals have vowed to clean the river, which is Delhi’s lifeline, but in vain. When the AAP government came into power, the then minister Kapil Mishra had said that the river would be clean enough to take a dip in 2018.