The Yamuna river originates from the Yamunotri glacier
in the Mussories range of the lower Himalayas. The total length of the Yamuna
up to its point of confluence with the Ganges at Allahabad is 1376 kms. It
falls within seven states of Uttanchal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,
Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Yamuna has four main tributaries in the
Himalayan region – Rishi Ganga, Hanuman Ganga, Tons and Giri. In the plains,
the main tributaries are the Hindon, Chambal, Sind, Betwa and Ken. Besides
irrigation, the river is a source of drinking water and bathing and therefore,
affects the habitation of people at large in the country.
The combined
effect of a modified flow regime due to barrages withdrawal of water for irrigation
and drinking purposes and the cumulative discharge of domestic, industrial
and agricultural waste water has converted the Yamuna into almost an open
sewer in the stretch of Delhi and Agra. As a result the river is impacting
the bio-diversity of the eco-system and endangering public health of the inhabitants.
The prevalence of poor sanitation practices also contributes to the proliferation
of a number of disease and an adverse living environment.
Yamuna water
is shared by four riparian and two basin states under an agreement. There
are three main barrages at Tajewala, Wazirabad-Delhi and Okhla-Delhi, which
have been constructed to give effect to this sharing arrangement.
There are
five Reaches of Yamuna river. Reach
I comprises from origin to Tajewala barrage in the Himalayan segment. This
172 km stretch has turbulent stream of almost pristine water quality upto
Barrage at Tajewala Canals on both banks withdraw water for various uses.
Reach II, also in the upper segment cover the length
of 224 km from Tajewala barrage to Wazirabad i.e. upstream of Delhi. Its Dry
Weather Flow DWF is comprised of fresh
water and waste water from urban and rural settlement in the catchments. The
barrage at Wazirabad stores water for meeting the demand of Delhi.
Reach III,
i.e. Wazirabad to Okhla barrage in Delhi, which is the smallest length of
22 km in Delhi is highly polluted. No water is released from Wazirabad barrage.
The DWF is comprised of wastewater originating in Delhi. The barrage at Okhla
diverts water through Agra Canal to the states of UP & Haryana for irrigation.
Reach IV is covering the area from Okhla barrage in
Delhi to confluence with Chambal river. In this 490 km. stretch no water is
released from the Okhla barrage. The
DWF is comprised of wastewater from urban and rural settlements.
The last
Reach i.e. Reach V comprises of Chambal confluence to confluence with Ganga
river at Allahabad. The water in this 468 km length is diluted because the river gets a fresh injection of life after
dilution from the Chambal water. Other tributaries coming from Rajasthan and
MP join in this region.
Tajewala
in Reach I is the benchmark where water quality is generally within the desired
levels of bathing quality. Average Bio-chemical oxygen Demand - BOD level is 1-2 mg/l and Dissolved Oxygen
–DO is 11.7 mg/7 mg/l.
In Reach
II, though domestic and industrial wastewater from urban and rural areas and
wastewater from livestock rearing activities and surface runoff from agricultural
activities enter the river. Due to
certain extent of self-purification in this 224 km length, the water quality
is considerably good with average 1.0 – 2.0 mg/l of BOD. Nevertheless, the
level of coliforms and contamination from pesticides and industries is of
concern.
Reach III
& IV of Delhi and upto Chambal is located between two barrages and have
no fresh water flow either from upstream or from lateral connections. It is
extremely critical from wastewater quality and public health standpoint. The
22 + 490 km stretch is characterized as open sewer. Nizamuddin Bridge is 27.0
mg/l at Mazawali after Agra canal is 32.0 mg/l and at Agra, down stream it
is highest at 39.0 mg/l. this severe water quality condition affects most
habitation on Yamuna stretch. Agra
canal, Mazawati, Mathura, Bateshavan and
Etawah, quality of water ranges from 6.0 to 10 mg/l where desired bathing
class level of BOD is 3 mg/l.
Recognizing
the gravity of the pollution of rivers, the National River Construction Directorate,
Government of India launched a massive plan for their pollution abatement.
The Yamuna Action Plan – Phase I – YAP I project was launched in 1993 and
completed in 2003. Japan Bank for International Cooperation – JBIC gave special
assistance for this project.
YAP A
YAP Phase-I
covered Delhi, 8 towns of UP and 6 towns of Yamuna Nagar. The National River
Conservation Directorate –NRCD under the Ministry of Environment and Forest
MoEF is the Executing Agency for the YAP Project. With Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam
– UPJN in UP, the Public Health Engineering Department - PHED in Haryana, the Delhi Jal Board – DJB
and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi –MCD are the Project Implementing Agencies
PIAs.
The components
of infrastructure involves construction of Drain Interceptions, Diversion
Sewer Lines, Sewage Pumping Stations and Sewage Treatment Plants. During Phase-I,
32 STPs were constructed and a total sewage treatment capacity of about 735
MLD was created.
Major
works implemented under YAP 1 under Sewerage Interventions are 214 open drains,
installation of intercepted and
diverted 49 Sewage Pumping Stations and 28 Sewage Treatment Plants where 722
MLD capacity was created. About 1600 low cost sanitations community toilets
complexes were also created.
Despite of
all these efforts, untreated sewage continued to flow into the river. Main
reasons for this were :
(i)
Installed capacity of STPs not being fully utilized as out
of a total installed capacity of about 2340 mld, only about 1485 mld capacity
is utilized due to deficiency in sewerage network mainly silting/settlement
of about 91 Km out of total length of 131 kms of trunk sewers.
(ii)
Gap of about 927 mld of installed STP capacity of STPs as out
of generation of about 3267 mld of
sewage, the installed capacity of STPs is 2340 mld only at present.
The total
expenditure of YAP-II is Rs.624 crore rupees. JBIC is providing 85% of total
cost i.e. Rs.500 crores. The project is to be completed by November 2009.
Share of States in Project cost being Haryana Rs.62.5 crore, Delhi Rs.387
crore and UP Rs.124 crore. Rs.50.5 crore have been earmarked for consultancy
services, water quality management etc. cost of the work to be shared between
Centre and State Government is in the ratio of 85:15.
In the YAP
II project two more towns, Bahadurgarh and Rohtak of Haryana have been added.
This project envisages a two
fold strategies in pollution control and abatement for Yamuna. They are :
1. Implement
schemes which have visible and tangible impact on the immediate improvement
of water quality of the river, planning activities for YAP-III and synchronise
engineering and non-engineering components.
2. Specific
value added components are involvement of NGOs in decision making process,
engineering technology transfer to Urban Local Bodies in Haryana, institutional
strengthening and capacity building of the 15 Urban Local Bodies UBLs, capacity
building for NRCD and water quality monitoring programme.
3. YAP II which
has a pragmatic approach towards improving the quality of water in the river
Yamuna and the living environment in the cities along with the river, will
result in a ‘clean Yamuna’.
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KP/SR
(Release ID :20419)