Encroachments choke Yamuna: Delhi’s floodplain shrinks; river’s carrying capacity drops 50%

Delhi is witnessing a dangerous shift in the Yamuna river’s behaviour as shrinking floodplains have drastically reduced the river’s capacity to hold water. Despite lower discharge from the Hathnikund barrage, water levels in the city are breaching historic marks — a clear sign of how encroachments, construction, and silt deposits have choked the river’s natural course.

Carrying capacity halved:

• Yamuna’s carrying capacity has dropped by over 50%.
• Encroachments, construction, and silt deposits have squeezed its natural floodplain.

Encroachments spread everywhere:

• 62 hectares taken under legal residential schemes (Madanpur Khadar, Commonwealth Games Village).
• Nearly 980 hectares encroached by unauthorised colonies and JJ clusters.
• About 340 hectares eaten up by transport projects.
• Almost 3,000 hectares proposed as “inactive floodplain” lie vulnerable, covering areas like Shaheen Bagh, Batla House, Khajuri.

Villages expanding into O-zone (flood-prone):
Settlements like Jaitpur, Mithapur, Wazirabad, Badarpur Khadar, Jagatpur continue to grow despite risk.

Pending demarcation, growing chaos:

• NGT ordered DDA in 2023 to demarcate the floodplain — still pending.
• Delhi’s Master Plan 2021 mapped about 9,700 hectares as floodplain.

Riverfront heavily built-up:
Notable structures on floodplain include Delhi Secretariat, Samadhi complex, DTC depots, sports complexes.
Key stretches like ITO have negligible floodplain left.

Historic highs vs today’s reality:
Despite lower discharge at Hathnikund barrage, flood levels in Delhi are breaching historic marks.

Peak water levels in Delhi:

• 6 Sept 1978 – 207.49m (7.0 lakh cusec discharge)
• 22 Sept 2010 – 207.11m (7.44 lakh cusec)
• 19 June 2013 – 207.32m (8.06 lakh cusec)
• 11 July 2023 – 208.66m (3.50 lakh cusec)
• 5 Sept 2025 – 207.48m (3.29 lakh cusec)

Less water is now causing much higher flood levels — a clear sign of lost floodplain capacity.

Why it happens:

• Floodplain narrowed by encroachments and ghats.
• More bridges and roads have reduced the river’s spread.
• Heavy silt and sewage have made the riverbed shallow.
• Concretisation and upstream dumping worsen flow.

Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Teacher's Day wishes, messages and Quotes !