water pollution in delhi essay

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How to reduce pollution in Delhi’s waterways: study

About 80 per cent of the water supplied to households in India’s capital, Delhi ends up as wastewater, some of which remains untreated, polluting the city’s waterways and threatening the health and wellbeing of its residents. This metropolitan area, with its population of approximately 30 million, currently has 35 operational sewage treatment plants.

In December last year, the Indian government announced its plans to treat over 95 per cent of Delhi’s wastewater by the end of 2022 - over four times the national average.

To support this initiative, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) launched the first-ever study of its kind to examine how Delhi, India’s largest city, recycles its wastewater and how it can be done more efficiently.

It assessed the various technologies sewage treatment plants use for nutrient recovery and recycling for safe and sustainable re-use of wastewater in Delhi. These include activated sludge process (ASP), extended aeration (EA), moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), sequential batch reactor (SBR), or fluidized aerobic bed reactor (FAB) processes.

The UNEP study found that the MBBR system is the most suited to the situation in Delhi and should, where possible, be employed in new treatment plants.

MBBR is a modern system invented in Norway that uses a combination of biological rather than only chemical or mechanical processes to treat the water and remove pollutants. But this system is not without its challenges, say experts.

"The adoption of MBBR technology for large sewage treatment plants is challenging as maintenance costs are large,” said Sangeeta Bansal, a lead researcher on the project.

The study suggests that other systems, such as SBR, and ASP could also be used for larger sewage treatment plants.

In addition to mapping Delhi's current nutrient recovery, recycling and reuse practices against available treatment options, the study has developed an ecosystems health card to measure the water quality and assess the revival of selected water bodies in the city. 

Some forms of pollution cause an increase in minerals and nutrients in the water, a process known as eutrophication, which leads to increased plant life, including algae, but a decrease in the diversity of fish and bird life. Raw sewage and food waste are also rich in nutrients, notably reactive nitrogen compounds such as nitrates and ammonium compounds, which are converted into nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide .

Lake Najafgarh in Delhi is one example of a polluted waterway. Since 2011, the lake area has increased by eight per cent due to pollution. It feeds into the Yamuna River, which flows through the city and is one of the main tributaries of the Ganges River.

“Supporting water security by using treated wastewater for non-potable purposes like toilet flushing, car washing, construction, agriculture, and rejuvenating affected rivers and lakes, is vital for the city’s sustainable development,” said Riccardo Zennaro, a Programme Management Officer for wastewater at UNEP.

“It can also improve access to clean tap water,” he added. “Wastewater treatment supports the recycling and recovery of water and nutrients and is, therefore, critical for sustainable water and nutrient management, while preventing pollution. However, it needs significant improvement to meet Indian government environmental standards.”

A stakeholder engagement workshop is planned to inform local and national decision-makers and relevant authorities about the findings of the project and discuss the next steps in implementing the recommendations as well as possible follow-up actions. 

UNEP is supporting Member States and others to address issues such as pollution through the World Water Quality Alliance , the Global Partnership on Marine Litter , the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management and the Global Wastewater Initiative (GW²I). With GW²I partners, UNEP is working to highlight that wastewater is a resource that can boost water security and that low-cost alternative wastewater treatment systems can be a viable solution if conventional systems or upgrades are not feasible.

For more information, please contact Riccardo Zennaro : or Avantika Singh

• Fresh water
• Waste water
• Sustainable Development

Further Resources

• UNEP’s work on water
• Sanitation, Wastewater Management and Sustainability: Second edition
• Sanitation and Wastewater Atlas of Africa

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India’s Troubled Waters: Polluted Rivers and Their Impact

• March 13, 2024
• Feature , Pollution

By Vivek Saini 

In the vast canvas of India’s scenery, where rivers hold stories of spirituality and vitality, a silent crisis unfolds a tale of troubled waters etched into the heart of the nation’s character. As the sun graces the sacred Ganga, once hailed for its pure waters, it now bears the burdens of a growing population, relentless industrial growth, and the ceaseless march of urban development.

The Yamuna, a river with pristine beginnings, shares a different story as it winds through seven states, betrayed by the very capital that cradles its flow. Far to the east, the Brahmaputra, a vital source of life in Assam, faces a growing threat from increasing sewage pollution, endangering ecosystems and people’s ways of life. Heading west, the Sabarmati, once celebrated as a sign of progress, grapples with the paradox of development as it finds itself ranked among the most polluted rivers in the country. Meanwhile, the Cooum, a lifeline for Chennai, reflects the urban challenge of a polluted river despite persistent efforts to restore it.

These stories, woven with environmental complexities and societal connections, demand our attention as we approach 14 March, T he International Day of Action for Rivers, a day urging us to confront the precarious state of these essential waterways and reflect on the shared responsibility we hold for their future.

Ganga: A Sacred River in Peril

The escalating global population, improved living standards, and the exponential growth of industrialization and urbanization have left water resources, particularly rivers like the Ganga, vulnerable to degradation. This deterioration, intensified by factors such as global climate change, the impact of glacial melt on Ganga’s flow, and the consequences of infrastructure projects in the river’s upper reaches, directly affects water quality. In some stretches, the mighty Ganga has become unfit for bathing, especially during lean seasons. Urgent and comprehensive responses are required to address the threats posed by these complex issues.

In the Ganga basin, an alarming 12,000 million liters per day (MLD) of sewage is generated, surpassing the current treatment capacity of approximately 4,000 MLD. Furthermore, around 3,000 MLD of sewage is discharged into the main stem of the Ganga from Class I & II towns along the banks, while the existing treatment capacity is limited to about 1,000 MLD. Industrial pollution, constituting roughly 20% volume-wise, holds greater significance due to its toxic and non-biodegradable nature. Notable sources include tanneries in Kanpur, along with distilleries, paper mills, and sugar mills in the catchments of the Ramganga and Kali rivers, contributing to the critical environmental challenges faced by the Ganga.

Yamuna: From Pristine Origins to Alarming Pollution

The Yamuna, India’s longest river tributary to the Ganga, originates from the Yamunotri glacier in Uttarakhand, traversing seven states before merging with the Ganga at Sangam in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Despite its pristine origins, the Yamuna has become one of the world’s most polluted rivers, particularly downstream of New Delhi. The capital city contributes significantly to the pollution, dumping around 58% of its waste into the river, with the most contamination occurring at Wazirabad, the point where the Yamuna enters Delhi.

Downstream of the Wazirabad barrage, the Yamuna lacks almost any freshwater, except during the monsoon season, and faces a critical stretch of 22 km in Delhi, where 18 significant drains discharge into the river. According to a January 2021 report from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Delhi generates about 3273 MLD of sewage daily, surpassing the installed treatment capacity of 2715 MLD. Despite treating about 35% of the sewage before release, more than 800 million liters of largely untreated wastewater and 44 million liters of industrial effluents are pumped into the Yamuna daily. Plastic pollution further chokes the river in Agra, with Delhi alone producing an astounding 2,51,674 tonnes of plastic annually, half of which is single-use. The riverbanks are cluttered with things like flip-flops and paper, forming piles every few feet. Many plastic bags, even the ones supposed to be recyclable, end up in the river. 

Brahmaputra: A Lifeline Threatened by Sewage Pollution

Flowing from the Tibetan Plateau as the Yarlung Tsangpo, the Brahmaputra traverses Arunachal Pradesh and Assam before reaching Bangladesh. Despite encountering trash and pollution along its course, the water quality of the Brahmaputra significantly deteriorates in Assam. This decline is attributed to the state’s inadequate waste infrastructure, leading to the direct discharge of a large portion of liquid sewage into the river.

The Brahmaputra River is a lifeline for millions, supporting agriculture fisheries and serving as a drinking water source. However, scientific evidence highlights the escalating sewage pollution from the cities it sustains, particularly in Assam, posing a threat to the river’s health and the dependent ecosystems. Guwahati, Assam’s most significant city along the Brahmaputra, generates approximately 154 million liters of sewage daily, a surge attributed to a 20% annual increase in the city’s population. The primary cause of river pollution is the untreated drainage of sewage and wastewater directly into the Brahmaputra.

Shirshendu Sekhar Das, the founder of The Midway Journey, an environmental conservation organization in Guwahati, emphasized that certain areas in the city, like Bharalumukh, have drainage channels directly leading into the Brahmaputra, significantly contributing to river pollution. He highlighted the alarming condition of the Bharalu River in Guwahati, describing it as entirely black and acting as a sewage carrier to the Brahmaputra. Das noted that during the rainy season in eastern Assam, water levels rise even before heavy rains due to closed channels, leading to sewage accumulation. The pollutants from this sewage accumulation harm aquatic fauna and flora, causing long-term ecological degradation of the marine environment along the Brahmaputra.

Sabarmati: Symbol of Development Turned Polluted Waters

In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were photographed on the banks of the Sabarmati, showcasing it as a symbol of development. Later, in 2017, Modi took off from the Sabarmati on a seaplane ahead of the Gujarat assembly election. However, in a surprising turn, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) ranked the Sabarmati as the second-most polluted river in India in its national report on river pollution presented in the Lok Sabha last year. The Sabarmati River originates in the Aravalli hills in Rajasthan and covers a distance of 371 kilometers before reaching the Arabian Sea in the Bay of Khambhat area. With a total catchment area of 21,674 square kilometers, the Sabarmati plays a significant role in the region’s hydrology and ecosystems. This river, historically substantial for inspiring Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha movement, faced an unexpected environmental challenge, highlighting the complexities of river pollution issues.

A Report from a collaboration of regional officers of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, social activists, and environmentalists reveals that substantial portions of Gujarat’s Sabarmati River are either experiencing severe pollution or have dried up. This assessment underlines growing environmental concerns and highlights the urgent need for measures to address the challenges faced by the Sabarmati River in Gujarat. The Sabarmati River, upon entering Ahmedabad, no longer carries fresh water. Instead, the Sabarmati Riverfront has transformed into a stagnant pool of polluted water. At the same time, downstream, the river serves as a channel for industrial effluents from Naroda, Odhav Vatva, Narol, and sewage from Ahmedabad city. The drought-like conditions exacerbated by Riverfront Development have hampered groundwater recharge, leading to increased reliance on the Narmada River.

This distressing state of the Sabarmati River raises serious concerns for the health of Ahmedabad’s residents and the villages along the river downstream of the Riverfront. People in these areas depend on the river for their daily needs and livelihoods. The extensive pollution has resulted in contamination of groundwater, food, and associated health hazards, contributing to the loss of natural river habitat, depletion of groundwater levels, and harm to flora and fauna, emphasizing the urgent need for environmental intervention.

Cooum: Chennai’s Polluted Lifeline

The Cooum River, also known as Koovam, is a Bay of Bengal-draining river with a length of approximately 72 km, with 32 km passing through Chennai and the remainder through rural areas. The urban stretch of the river is heavily contaminated due to untreated sewage, industrial effluents, and solid waste. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) labeled it the “ most polluted ” river in the country, citing a Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) of 345 mg per liter between Avadi to Sathya Nagar, the highest among 603 rivers in India. A high BOD signifies poor water quality with low dissolved oxygen.

Despite multiple restoration attempts, including establishing the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) in 2009, the river’s condition remains critical. The continuous inflow of untreated sewage, with about 900 sewage outfalls yet to be addressed, poses a significant challenge. The Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is working on eco-restoration projects, incorporating 10 Infiltration and Drainage systems and three Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at various stages.

The Cooum’s pollution has severe repercussions for the environment and public health. Communities along its banks, relying on it for drinking water, face waterborne diseases. The pollution also threatens marine life and biodiversity in the estuary and the Bay of Bengal. The river, hosting various species, is essential for maintaining hydrological balance and preventing floods in Chennai during the monsoon. Recognizing its ecological, economic, and social importance, concerted efforts are needed to restore and protect the Cooum River.

References:

• https://nmcg.nic.in/pollution.aspx#:~:text=Approximately%203000%20mld%20of%20sewage,has%20been%20created%20till%20date .
• https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1705786
• https://www.sustainability-times.com/environmental-protection/a-river-deemed-sacred-in-india-has-become-polluted-beyond-belief/
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/delhi-tops-in-generating-plastic-waste/articleshow/70708648.cms
• https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/once-assams-lifeline-the-brahmaputra-river-today-is-struggling-with-oil-pollution-and-waste-disposal-which-are-gradually-rendering-it-lifeless-12018/
• https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/pollution/sewage-pollution-drives-deterioration-brahmaputra/?amp
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/sabarmati-second-most-polluted-river-in-india/amp_articleshow/97564660.cms
• https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2019/04/09130818/P-Sabarmati.27.03.pdf
• https://cpcb.nic.in/wqm/RS-criteria-status.pdf
• https://booking.chennairivers.gov.in/about.php
• https://cmwssb.tn.gov.in/
• Image 1: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-boat-on-the-river-with-buildings-in-the-background-16542333/
• Image 3: https://unsplash.com/photos/man-standing-on-boat-f43rDFk1Ph4  
• Image 4: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-night-view-of-a-river-with-a-bridge-in-the-background-YiyBsUQynIA  
• Image 5: https://twitter.com/ErikSolheim/status/1221606295511453698?t=vwV4Fcxz1RIBDt_WwXGjtg&s=19

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Water Pollution and its Sources, Effects & Management: A Case Study of Delhi

Shahid Ahmed and Saba Ismail (2018) 'Water Pollution and its Sources, Effects & Management: A Case Study of Delhi', International Journal of Current Advanced Research, 07(2), pp. 10436-10442

7 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2018

Shahid Ahmed

Jamia Millia Islamia - Economics

Saba Ismail

Jamia Millia Islamia

Date Written: 2018

Water pollution is a national and global issue. Humans and all living species in the world are facing worst results of polluted water. The present study investigates the level of awareness about water pollution in Delhi, its causes, its health effects and solutions among the youth in Delhi. The paper has used primary data collected through a schedule from university/college students in Delhi. The study concludes that the majority of educated youth (94%) perceives water pollution as environmental challenge and 52% respondents ranked it (1-3) as most important threat. The study identified dumping of waste as one of the most important causes of water pollution; untreated sewage as the second most important cause of water pollution and industrial discharge as the third most important cause of water pollution. The study identified Typhoid, Diarrhoea, Dengue, Cholera, Jaundice, Malaria, Chikungunya, etc are associated with water pollution on the basis of survey. The study suggests awareness campaign involving citizens and strict enforcement of environmental laws by concerned agencies as the appropriate solution to control environment degradation. It is recommended that there should be proper waste disposal system and waste should be treated before entering in to river and water bodies.

Keywords: Environment Sustainability, Water Pollution, Health Effects

JEL Classification: Q50, Q53, I12

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Shahid Ahmed (Contact Author)

Jamia millia islamia - economics ( email ).

Jamia Nagar New Delhi, 110025 India

HOME PAGE: http://jmi.ac.in/economics/faculty-members/Prof_Shahid_Ahmed-1783

Jamia Millia Islamia ( email )

Jamia Nagar, New Delhi Delhi, 110025 India

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Decoding Delhi’s Water Crisis: Causes, Impact and Solution

What’s in today’s article?

Why in news, where is the water in delhi coming from, and water stress in delhi.

• Reasons for Water Scarcity in Delhi
• Challenges Posed by Water Scarcity

What are the Solutions to Address Water Scarcity?

• The Supreme Court directed the Himachal Pradesh government to release 137 cusecs of water it has in surplus and asked Haryana to do the needful to resolve the drinking water crisis in Delhi.
• This came after the AAP government in Delhi had approached the SC (alleging the BJP-government in Haryana for stopping Yamuna’s water supply), amidst a surge in water demand during prolonged heatwave.
• From the Ganga , via the Upper Ganga Canal in UP, Delhi receives 470 cusecs/ roughly 254 million gallons per day (MGD) of water.
• Two channels (carrier lined channel (CLC) Munak and the Delhi sub-branch (DSB) canals) entering Delhi from Haryana supply Delhi (1094 cusecs) with water from the Yamuna and Ravi-Beas rivers.
• The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) also takes water directly from the Yamuna and supplements its river-water supply with ground water drawn from Delhi’s tubewells and wells .
• According to the Composite Water Management Index released by NITI Aayog in 2019, five of the world’s 20 largest cities under water stress are in India, with Delhi being second on the list.

Reasons for Water Scarcity in Delhi:

• Over-extraction of groundwater: According to the Economic Survey 2023-24, Delhi has a daily water demand of 1,290 MGD, of which the DJB currently produces 1,000 MGD. The gap is met by Delhi’s groundwater reserves.
• High ammonia levels (more than 2.5 parts per million) in the Yamuna have long contributed to poor water supply in parts of Delhi.
• Numerous drains and rivulets discharge toxic waste from small and medium industries into the Yamuna river , eventually affecting Delhi’s clean water supply.
• According to the draft of the Delhi State Action Plan on Climate Change, the city is projected to incur economic losses of Rs 2.75 trillion by 2050 as a result of climate change impacts.
• Rising temperatures and erratic precipitation patterns pose significant challenges to the city’s water supply.
• The Opposition alleges that the annual water shortage during summers is solely because of the inefficient water management of the state government. 
• The Central Water Commission’s inefficient role in managing the three barrages in Wazirabad, ITO, and Okhla indicates poor coordination and transparency among Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh governments.
• Inter-state water disputes: Water disputes between Haryana and Delhi have centred around the allocation of water from the Yamuna river. Haryana alleges that Delhi is drawing more water than allocated under various agreements.
• Water treatment plant (WTP) capacity: The WTP in North Delhi’s Wazirabad was functioning below its capacity because the Yamuna did not have enough water (due to deficit rainfalls) for the DJB to draw from the Wazirabad reservoir.

Challenges Posed by Water Scarcity:

• With the reduced availability of clean water, marginalised communities living in unauthorised colonies often have to rely on unsafe water sources, leading to waterborne diseases .
• Insufficient water supply also hampers the maintenance and cleanliness of public toilets. When water is scarce, sewage systems can fail, which increases the risk of diseases such as cholera .
• Increased illness due to poor hygiene and sanitation leads to higher healthcare costs for individuals and the government.
• Frequent illnesses impact productivity as people miss work or school, affecting their economic well-being and academic opportunities.
• The dependence on water tankers for domestic needs can be unreliable and costly, leading to further economic strain for the marginalised communities.
• Recently, the Delhi government ordered a crackdown on water misuse , authorising inspection teams to fine offenders using pipes to wash cars, allowing water tanks to overflow, and using domestic water supply for construction.
• The teams are also authorised to disconnect illegal water connections at construction sites or commercial establishments.
• To stop waste discharge from entering Yamuna, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the State Pollution Control Boards need to take the initiatives.
• Water rationing strategies must be announced during summer months.
• The DJB, in collaboration with Hitachi India, is using field sensors and smart metres at the Pitampura water distribution network.
• Such technological intervention could enable remote and real-time monitoring and control of plant operations.
• Infrastructure development: The DJB can be more commercially-oriented and customers (households, businesses and industries) should be prepared to pay for the ‘real cost’ of supply. The DJB has recently increased infra charges for new water connections.
• State and city governments should consider water resource availability in the region while creating city plans and providing permits for new establishments.
• They must restrict any development activities that are not sustainable in terms of water management.
• Delhi’s rainwater harvesting potential amounts to a staggering 907 billion litres annually.
• To effectively implement rooftop rainwater harvesting, various awareness campaigns can be organised at the community level.

Q.1. What is the mechanism in India to resolve Inter-state river water disputes?

According to Article 262 of the Indian constitution, Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of any inter-State river or river valley.

Q.2. Why is the Yamuna river in Delhi so polluted?

The Yamuna river is most polluted in areas surrounding Delhi, owing to the area's dense population and high levels of waste. For decades, sections of the Yamuna have been plagued by the dumping of toxic chemicals and untreated sewage.

Source: Delhi water crisis: Supreme Court orders Himachal Pradesh to release 137 cusecs of water to quench Delhi’s thirst | IE | BS

© 2024 Vajiram & Ravi. All rights reserved

Water Scarcity in Delhi: Mapping for Solutions and the Way Forward

• First Online: 07 April 2020

Cite this chapter

• Rituparna Bhattacharyya 5 &
• Sanjay Prasad 6  

Part of the book series: Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences ((AGES))

629 Accesses

7 Citations

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Almost the whole of India is currently witnessing a massive drought due to the relentless increase in water demand to cater its more than one billion people alongside the growing demand for water for agricultural activities, industries and other allied activities. However, there is a lack of research focusing on water scarcity in India. Central Water Commission data shows that water levels in 91 major reservoirs have reached staggeringly low. This chapter, however, aims to assess the water supply system in Delhi, the capital city of India and the world’s third largest conurbation after Tokyo and Mumbai. Currently, there are nine major Water Treatment Plants (WTP) in Delhi, National Capital Territory responsible for catering water to its 16.8 million people. Using Geographical Information System (GIS) alongside the 2011 Census data of Delhi and taking into account the water supply norm of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which is 60 Gallon Per Capita per Day (GPCD), a simple metric is developed to calculate the freshwater demand of its people residing within the command area of each WTP. For this, the 2011 Census population size of each WTP is multiplied by 60 GPCD to retrieve the approximate water demand of the people residing in each WTP, which in turn allows us to seek the amount of water scarcity/surplus for each of the WTP command area. Based on the findings and the current understanding of the guiding indicators of water scarcity, we map for possible solutions.

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Acknowledgements

We express our deep sense of gratitude to Professor (Dr.) R. B. Singh and Dr. Subhash Anand, IGU Commission on Geoheritage, Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 for giving us the opportunity to contribute this article on water scarcity in Delhi. And a ‘Big Thank You’ to Dhritman Biswa Sarma for copy-editing the manuscript.

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Bhattacharyya, R., Prasad, S. (2020). Water Scarcity in Delhi: Mapping for Solutions and the Way Forward. In: Singh, R., Srinagesh, B., Anand, S. (eds) Urban Health Risk and Resilience in Asian Cities. Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1205-6_24

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• 13 December 2023

We need to talk about water

• Gautam I. Menon 0

Gautam I. Menon is the director of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability at Ashoka University in Sonipat, India.

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Old Delhi’s Red Fort, a nearly 400-year-old structure where India’s flag is hoisted every Independence Day, is separated from the Yamuna River by a 55-kilometre ring road that circles the capital. I drive past it on this road, built on an old floodplain, on my way to work at Ashoka University in the neighbouring state of Haryana, a further 30 kilometres or so upstream. The river is hidden from view in places but it can be seen farther along, narrow and darkened by pollution for most of the year.

In July 2023, flood water from heavy monsoon rains entered the Yamuna from Haryana, flooding parts of Delhi. TV images of the river lapping at the walls of the Red Fort recalled nineteenth-century paintings of the old course of the river.

Nature Spotlight: India

The Yamuna forms from the melting glaciers of the lower Himalayas, running for more than 1,370 kilometres until it merges with the Ganga in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Delhi lies along its banks for just 20 kilometres, less than 2% of the river’s total length. But in that short stretch, the city belches out around 80% of the pollution found in the Yamuna. In some seasons, a foamy mixture of sewage and industrial waste coats the river surface in parts of Delhi. Newspapers carry pictures of Hindu devotees offering morning prayers while standing knee-deep in this toxic foam.

Much of Haryana’s ground water is used to cultivate rice. Farmers pump it up using electricity that the state government heavily subsidizes to encourage agriculture. Without economic incentives to use this electricity sustainably, groundwater levels declined precipitously from the 1990s into the early 2000s. To combat this, legislation was introduced in 2009 to restrict the sowing of rice to mid-June onwards, timed to begin after the start of the monsoon season. Previously, rice planting had started as early as May.

This means that the rice-harvesting season ends even closer to the wheat planting season, which begins in November. Farmers need to get rid of their rice-crop residue as soon after harvesting as possible to clear space for the wheat.

Burning the crop residue is the cheapest solution. But in the early winter months, smoke and dust released from a combination of residue burning and other sources is concentrated by frequent changes in temperature and stagnant winds, and shrouds northern India. Schools are closed, construction work is halted and flights are grounded because of the poor visibility. Hospitals fill with people complaining of breathing difficulties. Each resident of Delhi is thought to lose nearly 12 years of their life to air pollution.

As the world’s climate changes, extreme events such as the rains that led to the Delhi floods in July will become more common. The southern Indian state of Kerala witnessed a devastating flood in 2018, the worst in almost a century of recorded history. More than one million people were evacuated to higher ground. A study that year showed that about 60% of the coast of Kerala was eroding, and areas where good fishing could be found were shifting, affecting the lives of one million fishers and their families.

Two large Indian cities, Chennai, on the Bay of Bengal, and Kolkata, on the banks of the Hooghly River, are expected to be at significant risk from sea-level rise in the next few decades. Along with the resulting intrusion of salt water into groundwater systems, this will increase climate-change-induced migration. The Sundarbans, an ecologically sensitive wetland system on the Bay of Bengal that contains the largest mangrove forest in the world, has already seen substantial climate-change-driven migration into the nearby city of Kolkata.

The Namami Gange Programme is one of many started since the mid-1980s to clean up India’s iconic holy river, the Ganga. Around US$3 billion for this has been set aside or spent since 2014, largely on new sewage-treatment plants.

But pollution levels remain stubbornly high, the result of lax enforcement of control measures and unregulated river-front development. More data are needed, and more transparency on the causes, so citizens can hold civic bodies and elected representatives responsible.

Science can help too. The Ministry of Earth Sciences is funding several initiatives aimed at improving India’s ability to model the monsoon. This will help provide actionable advance warnings of extreme rain events. More research on the geomorphology of coastal India, on near-shore ocean current patterns and on the impact of sea walls could aid the design of interventions to slow coastal erosion.

Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource that should be managed in a participatory fashion. Citizen groups in the south-Indian city of Bengaluru are helping to renew urban water bodies, reconfiguring them as centres around which communities can coalesce. In arid areas, such as the deserts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, old methods of rainwater harvesting are being revived, helped by traditional community knowledge.

Guaranteeing a minimum amount of fresh water for each individual, free of charge, will ensure broader societal equity. Beyond that limit, water usage should be priced, creating an economic incentive for its sustainable use. Such a policy was introduced nearly a decade ago by the Delhi government, but continued groundwater extraction using illegal borewells has partly neutralized this positive step.

Ensuring the sustainable use of water intersects climate change, agriculture, politics, pollution, migration and much more. Well-intentioned policy measures, such as subsidizing electricity for agriculture, can have unexpected consequences for water and its sustainable use.

Placing water at the centre of our thinking about sustainability can help avoid such pitfalls. We need more conversations about water.

Nature 624 , S25 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03909-3

This article is part of Nature Spotlight: India , an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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Souzeina Mushtaq

Praveen k. chaudhry, july 17th, 2023, chasing a dying river: the yamuna in delhi.

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Throughout history, rivers have been crucial to the birth of civilisations. In the Indian subcontinent, the mighty civilisations of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa came up along the Indus , Sutlej , and the riverbanks of the ancient Saraswati rivers in the north; in southern India, they developed around the Godavari , Krishna , and Kaveri rivers.

Rivers are so integral to the identity of the Indian subcontinent that even the English name of the country derives from the river Indus, ‘India’ being the Greek and Latin term for the country of the river Indus , which emerges in the mountain springs of Mount Kailash in western Tibet , then flowing through Kashmir and Pakistan , empties into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi .

India has about ten perennial rivers (those that maintain their flow through the year), mainly in the north; but most of them are now turning seasonal, with fragmented and intermittent flows. And India is not the only place where this is happening:  in the United States, some of the most endangered rivers are the Upper Mississippi and Lower Missouri , whose combined basins span nine states across the Midwest.

Rivers in India are classified on the basis of their sources of origin: (1) Himalayan; and (2) Peninsular rivers. The major Himalayan rivers are the Indus, Ganga , Yamuna and Brahmaputra ;  the Peninsular ones  are the Mahanadi , Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri.

Rivers in India are holy for Hindus, who worship them.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his election campaign in 2014 from the banks of the river Ganga in the city of Varanasi , declaring that he had been called on by ‘Mother Ganga’ to restore the river, considered the holiest of all rivers by millions of Hindus.

Photo 1 : A temple along the banks of the Yamuna river (across from Ghat 24) in Delhi, 2022 © Copyright information below

Polluting the Sacred

Yet, India’s rivers remain the most polluted. The Citizen’s Fifth Report (1999) states:

India has had a multi-millennial tradition of worshipping rivers. Even though Hindu scholars will not get tired of extolling the ecological elements of Hinduism, of which there are many, there is, nonetheless, the disparity between the word and the deed. Indians, including the river-worshipping Hindus, do not think twice before polluting a river.

But this is not a recent phenomenon. In 1997, journalist Samar Halarnkar wrote about what he called ‘ the rivers of death ’:  ‘Once symbols of purity and life for India’s teeming millions, India’s rivers are today foul receptacles of sewage and toxic waste. If the poisoning of our rivers is not stopped, more disease and death seem inevitable.’

In 2018, one of India’s leading environmentalists died while protesting against the establishment of hydroelectric projects on the Ganga and its tributaries, and illegal sand-mining activities. Guru Das Agrawal was a former Professor of Environmental Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur ; having studied at UC-Berkeley , he was latterly the first Head of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India. In June 2018, he started  an 111-day hunger strike, hoping it would compel the Indian government to work on its promise of cleaning up the Ganga. In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi , Agrawal wrote:

in the past four years, all actions undertaken by your government have not at all been gainful to Ganga and, in her place, gains are to be seen only for the corporate sector and several business houses.

Photo 2 : Illegal sand-mining on Yamuna river (across from Ghat 24) in Delhi, 2022 © Copyright information below

Himanshu Thakkar , a river expert and coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People , a non-profit organisation based in New Delhi, too believes that commerce has been prioritised over conservation.

Both Agrawal and Thakkar were referring to the several projects initiated by successive governments— including waterways, riverfront development, dredging, and interlinking of rivers — that have adversely affected the Ganga.

Yamuna: Ghat 24

Yamuna (the twin sister of Yama , the god of death), a principal tributary of the sacred Ganga and one of the holy rivers in India,  is crying for help. Alongside the Ganga, the Yamuna is often depicted at the entrance of Hindu sacred precincts or on sanctuary door-jambs to ensure that the visitor is symbolically purified before entering the premises. She is portrayed as a handsome woman carrying a blue lotus, a fly-whisk, and a water pot. Her mount is a tortoise because many still live, or used to live, in her waters.

In late 2021, a layer of toxic foam coated parts of the Yamuna near Delhi, the capital of India, as Hindus gathered on its banks to celebrate Chhath Puja , a festival dedicated to the Hindu sun god Surya , when fasting women offer ‘ arghya ’ (a Vedic practice of offering water to the sun in the morning) standing in knee-deep waters. The white froth, a mixture of sewage and industrial waste, formed in sections of the Yamuna river, which flows about 855 miles (ca 1,376 kilometres) south from the Himalayas through several Indian states. According to news reports, the pungent foam contained high levels of ammonia and phosphates, which can cause respiratory and skin problems. Many devotees were seen wading through the toxic foam to bathe and pray in the river despite this deadly pollution. CNN interviewed Gunjan Devi , who said she had no choice but to bathe in the polluted waters:  ‘The water is extremely dirty, but we don’t have many options. It is a ritual to bathe in a water body, so we have come here to bathe.’ According to the Press Trust of India, 15 boats were deployed by the government to remove the foam, but significant damage had already been done .

Photo 3 : Toxic industrial foam on Yamuna river (Okhla Barrage), 2021 © Waqar Khan; used with permission by authors.

Delhi-based environmentalist Vimlendu Jha says that the lack of political will, zero urgency in cleaning the Yamuna, and minimal action on the ground were reasons behind the frequent foaming in the river. In a news report in Outlook  magazine in 2022, Jha was quoted as saying: ‘Delhi empties more than 3,500 million litres of municipal sewage in the river and, despite tall claims, over 50 per cent of the sewage is either untreated or not adequately treated and flows directly into the Yamuna …. Lack of minimum flow in the river is another major cause of the Yamuna’s pollution.’

Bhavreen Kandhari , another environmentalist, also felt that toxic foam-covered sections of the river are due to the negligence and absence of real action on the ground: ‘ On the Yamuna, scores of farmhouses and industries are discharging pollutants into the river. There are about 92 drains that open directly into Yamuna, out of which 62 are untapped. ’

For decades, sections of the Yamuna have been plagued by the dumping of toxic chemicals and untreated sewage. As a result, the river appears dark and sludgy in several parts, while plastic waste lines its banks.

Industrial waste is among India’s top sources of pollution in rivers. The discharge from industries is directly pumped into the rivers without treatment, affecting aquatic life and humans. Eutrophication is another factor impacting rivers in India today,  often induced due to improper agricultural practices and city sewage discharge into the rivers. It leads to overgrowth of plants and algae in aquatic ecosystems and can render a water body unusable for various activities, from fishing to swimming to drinking water.

The most pronounced effect of eutrophication is the creation of dense blooms of noxious, foul-smelling phytoplankton that reduce water clarity and harm water quality. Additionally, algal blooms limit the penetration of light, reducing growth and causing die-offs of plants in littoral zones while lowering the success of predators that need light to pursue and catch prey.  High rates of photosynthesis are also associated with eutrophication, which can deplete dissolved inorganic carbon and raise pH to extreme levels during the day. Elevated pH can, in turn, ‘blind’ organisms that rely on the perception of dissolved chemical cues for survival by impairing their chemosensory abilities. When these dense algal blooms eventually die, microbial decomposition severely depletes dissolved oxygen, creating a ‘dead zone’ which lacks sufficient oxygen to support most organisms.

Some social and religious practices also harm the rivers — including dumping dead bodies, and other sacred detritus (like flowers, remainders of incense, food offerings used in private/domestic rituals, often tied in plastic bags) in the water. In 2021, thousands of dead bodies were found floating in the Yamuna during the country’s deadly second wave of Coronavirus which killed more than 120,000 people. The Ganga and Yamuna rivers passed through some of India’s worst-hit Covid-19 regions; according to news reports, fear of Covid-19 led villagers to dump dead bodies in the river instead of cremating them.

Photo 4 : Cremation pyre on the banks of the Yamuna river, Nigambodh Ghat (Ghat 24), Delhi, 2022 © Copyright information below.

Festivals like Ganapati Puja (also known as Ganesh Chaturthi ), commemorating the birth of the Hindu god Ganesh , are among major pollutants of rivers in India, including the Yamuna. The festival is celebrated with the installation of Ganesh’s clay idols in people’s homes, and in community pandal s (temporary cloth tents ), eventually immersing the idols in the water bodies at the end of the festival.

In earlier years, idols were made with clay and coloured with natural colours (like turmeric) and worshipped with natural products like coconut, yogurt, milk and water. Nowadays, they are made mostly with a mixture of Plaster of Paris (PoP) and clay, with small iron rods and bamboo stuffing, and decorated with different paints including varnish, water colours, etc. When these are immersed in water, it increases pollution in water bodies.

The CPCB studied the impact of the immersion of Ganesh idols in India, and concluded that water quality had depleted, acid content had increased, the Total Dissolved Solids had increased by 100%, and oxygen levels had reduced. In addition, heavy metal particles (like iron and copper) had risen ten-fold in the composition of the water.

In 2021, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC; the pollution controlling body of the Delhi state government) issued guidelines to District Magistrates to ensure that idols are not immersed in the Yamuna or any other water body in the national capital. Violations would be punishable with a fine of ₹ 50,000 (US$605 approx.) or a jail term of up to six years. To respect the tradition of immersing idols in water, DPCC asked urban local bodies to create artificial ponds near residential areas for the immersion of idols.

Rivers as Humans

In 2017, a court in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand ordered that the Ganga and its main tributary, the Yamuna, be accorded the status of living human entities , which would mean that polluting or damaging the rivers will be legally equivalent to harming/killing a person . The judges cited the example of the Whanganui River (revered by the indigenous Maori people, which was declared a living entity with full legal rights by the New Zealand government in August 2017).

Indian courts and environmentalists have been critical of three decades of government efforts to clean up the holy rivers. The last clean-up initiative deadline was set for 2018, which was never met.

The Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), a river restoration project, was introduced in 1993 to restore the river. It was a bilateral project between the governments of India and Japan, where Japan offered loan assistance to implement YAP. Subsequently, two phases (YAP II and YAP III) were initiated in 2004 and 2008 respectively. To clean the Yamuna River,  ₹1,500 crore (US$150 million) was spent on the YAP, and a plan of ₹1,174 crore (US$11.74 billion) was redrawn, while ₹460 crore (US$ 4.6 billion) had been given for cleaning Yamuna under the ‘ Namami Gange Programme ’, an Integrated Conservation Mission approved as a Flagship Programme by the Central Government of India. But the Yamuna has remained the same, and in fact has got worse, according to reports.

But unfortunately, the mission to clean Ganga and Yamuna (including YAP) has failed according to the Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Forests of the Government of India.

Something miraculous happened to the Yamuna as the world receded inside their homes during lockdown following the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. According to DPCC findings, the Yamuna became 33 per cent cleaner than before . Environment Conservator Diwan Singh said the rivers cleaned themselves due to their biological potential .

Yamuna is most polluted in areas surrounding Delhi, owing to the city’s dense population and high levels of waste. The Delhi stretch of the Yamuna river is about 22 kms (13 miles approx.), starting from Wazirabad Barrage to Okhla Barrage , which accounts for 2 per cent of the river’s length that flows through the capital. Yet, this stretch alone is responsible for 76 per cent of the river’s pollution. Around 90 per cent of untreated wastewater from households pours into the river. This wastewater comprises laundry detergents and other chemicals, increasing the water’s phosphate content and leading to froth formation. Not only that, but this stretch is also the primary source of 70 per cent of Delhi’s water supply, serving roughly 57 million people.

Earlier this year, a high-level committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for the rejuvenation of the Yamuna chalked out a six-month action plan till June 2023, with monthly targets. The committee stressed time-bound actions on ‘right parameters’ that include enhancement of sewage-treatment capacity in Delhi and the augmentation of Sewage Treatment Plants, tapping of drains and treatment of sewage in 44 sub-drains, extension of the sewage network in all 1,799 unauthorised colonies in Delhi and surrounding areas, upgrade of 13 Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) for treatment, management of industrial effluents and ensuring minimum environmental flow in the Yamuna using inter-state coordination.

Only time will tell whether these measures will be implemented and succeed, and whether Yamuna will revive and flow perennially again. For now, one can only hope.

The views expressed here are those of the author and not of the ‘South Asia @ LSE’ blog, the LSE South Asia Centre or the London School of Economics and Political Science.  Please click here for our Comments  Policy. 

Photographs © Praveen K. Chaudhry (except Photo 3); no photograph may be used/reproduced without written permission of the authors; Banner image © Praveen K. Chaudhry, Yamuna river at Ghat 24, 2023.

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About the author

Dr Souzeina Mushtaq is Assistant Professor in Communication and Media Studies at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Praveen K. Chaudhry is Professor of Political Science at State University of New York / FIT.

Interesting.

As the song goes, “What Nature doesn’t do to us will be done by our fellow man.”

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