Chhath Pooja: The controversy around Delhi Jal Board and Yamuna’s toxic foam

This year, West Delhi MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma clashed with a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) official over the use of “defoamers” to tackle the froth. On October 30, the official took a bath on the Yamuna banks using its water at Kalindi Kunj, after filing a complaint against BJP leaders.

#Watch | DJB official Sanjay Sharma takes a bath using Yamuna water at Kalindi Kunj, a day after filing a complaint against BJP leaders Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga who yelled at him over the spraying of a defoamer in the river.
📹 @abhinavsaha pic.twitter.com/hibhseq9y0

— Express Delhi-NCR (@ieDelhi) October 30, 2022

What was the issue with the toxic foam in Yamuna?

The AAP hit out at Verma on October 28, after a video emerged of the MP speaking sternly with an official of the DJB who was in charge of spraying a “defoamer” in the river ahead of Chhath Puja. In the video shared by DJB Vice Chairman Saurabh Bharadwaj on Twitter, Verma said to the official about the defoamer chemical, “After eight years, you have remembered now that it is approved? You take a dip in it now.”

दिल्ली सरकार छठ पूजा की तैयारी कर रही है और भाजपा के नेता काम रोक रहे हैं , बदतमीज़ी कर रहे हैं। भाजपा चाहती है पूर्वांचली भाइयों को परेशानी हो और त्योहार ख़राब हो । pic.twitter.com/JVrEtMIdsz

— Saurabh Bharadwaj (@Saurabh_MLAgk) October 28, 2022

The official then asked Verma why he is getting angry. “Why do you think people will die of this? It is a chemical that is approved by the US FDA. The NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga) has also approved it,” he said. In response to this, Verma said: “Tere sar pe daal doon yeh chemical? Tum yahan pe chemical daal do paani mein aur yahan pe log lagayenge dubki, yeh main tere sar par daal doon? (You will spray the chemical in the water here and people will come to take a dip in the water. I’ll pour this over your head?) Sharam nahin aati tumhein? (Are you not ashamed?).”

Why does the Yamuna froth every year around Chhath Pooja?

The reason behind the foaming is usually the presence of phosphates from detergents, and anaerobic bacteria in the water that falls from a height at the Okhla barrage, an official from the DJB said.

Sushmita Sengupta, Senior Programme Manager of the Water Programme at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that at this time of the year, the river is in a lean phase and the water flow is less.

Pollutants, therefore, are not diluted, causing foaming. The defoamer neutralizes the phosphates, the DJB official said. The spraying to combat the foaming is confined to the part of the river near the Okhla barrage since much of the foam is generated here. “Spraying began after Diwali, with a focus on Chhath puja. But spraying may continue later as well, whenever there is foam in the river. Trials were done first in the laboratory, before trying it in the river. It is a temporary way of dealing with pollutants in the river,” the official told The Indian Express.

How does the defoaming work?

The senior DJB official who did not want to be named said that the defoamer is a solution which can suppress the foam.

“The product has been approved by the US FDA as a defoamer. Various types of defoamers are available in the market. This is a polyoxypropylene-based defoamer, and it is not poisonous. It is easily available in the market. If something poisonous is sprayed in the water, the biggest effect is usually on the dissolved oxygen, which reduces. Before spraying, the dissolved oxygen in the Yamuna was 3.96 mg/litre. Now, after spraying, it is 4.8 mg/litre, which means there it has no effect on the river’s ecology,” the official said.

“The defoamer is being diluted at a ratio of 1:100, which means that even constituents like silicone will not be risky since they are only present in residual form. Besides, the spraying of the defoamer has been approved by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG),” the official said.

A release from the Ministry of Jal Shakti earlier this month said that a joint committee of “stakeholders” was formed “to oversee and coordinate efforts to minimise froth formation downstream of Okhla barrage” during Chhath puja. The committee includes representatives from the DJB, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, NMCG, Upper Yamuna River Board and Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department. The communication from the Ministry said: “It has been decided that eco-friendly anti-surfactant shall be sprayed from 25/10/2022 onwards till Chhath Puja from boat-mounted sprayers.”

Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan pointed out that the foam is generated by pollutants in the water mainly from detergents and industrial effluents. “The foam is a year-round phenomenon in the river. It sees an upward trend around this time because winter sets in and the oxygenation of river water is reduced. Defoamers are used in industries, and silicone defoamers are used. It is a man-made polymer and it is not to be used in the way it has been sprayed here. It is effective in the sense that it can immediately do away with froth. But the issue is that they should be cautious before using a defoamer. Hopefully, it will be stopped,” he said.

The DJB official said, “The defoamer does contain silicone, but so do most cosmetics. It has been diluted.”