Opinion Express View on L-G plan to clean up Yamuna: A river must flow

The Yamuna in Delhi has suffered long because of the accumulation of untreated sewage, industrial effluents and domestic trash. Though only about 22 km of the 1,400-km river flows between Wazirabad and Okhla in Delhi, the national capital accounts for 75 per cent of the pollution load on the Yamuna. The river is not even fit for bathing in its Delhi stretch, except for Palla, the point where it enters Delhi. At some places, the concentration of pollutants is more than 700 times the desired level. The L-G’s plan to clean the river over the next three years was, therefore, long overdue. The project does tick a few right boxes. It aims to clean the riverbed, overhaul the sewage treatment plants and empty out effluents from the city’s drains. However, similar plans have run out of steam in the past. The river suffered in the last 10 years because Delhi’s elected government was not on the same page with the L-G. The Delhi government could also never summon the political will to engage the NCR’s neighbouring states in its river rejuvenation endeavours.

Delhi generates about 790 million gallons of sewage every day (MGD). On paper, its STPs can treat a little more than 700 MGD. The refurbishment of these plants planned in the new Yamuna cleansing project can address the deficit. But zero waste discharge into the river could still be a tall order. According to a Delhi Pollution Control Board study last year, 21 of the capital’s 37 STPs do not meet the basic standards. More than 70 per cent of these plants do not have a bacterial disinfection facility, despite several NGT orders. Delhi’s waste problem is compounded by the fact that large parts of the city are outside the sewerage network. In 2006, the Sheila Dikshit government planned interceptor drains to connect the city’s STPs with localities that are outside the sewer lines. The Delhi government has spent about Rs 2,400-crore on the project, which has missed several deadlines. In many places, sewer lines have been laid, but the STPs have not been upgraded. The overhaul planned by the Delhi government will have to reckon with the fact that the volume of the city’s sewage has increased by at least 100 MGD in the 19 years since the interceptor project was planned.

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The 30-year water-sharing agreement between five Yamuna basin states is slated to be renegotiated this year. In the past 10 years, the Delhi and Haryana governments have been at loggerheads over the river. The new Delhi government will have to engage better with its counterparts in neighbouring states for ensuring greater flows to the city.