Sold Down The River? Cleanup Going Nowhere

New Delhi: In January, on the orders of the National Green Tribunal, a high-level committee was set up to oversee the rejuvenation of the polluted Yamuna. Ten months later, the deadline for the elaborate plans of the committee, among them the upgradation of 18 sewage treatment plants, desilting of 200km of trunk sewer lines, setting up of 40 decentralised sewage treatment plants and trapping of drains, has been pushed from 2023 to 2024. This, even as the river struggles to support aquatic life.Admittedly, the panel’s agenda was disrupted by the Supreme Court staying NGT’s appointment of lieutenant governor VK Saxena as committee head in July. On Monday, Saxena tweeted that froth, sewer and effluent remained unchecked in the Yamuna. Delhi government has its own river revival agenda with a deadline of 2025. Yet, despite several government agencies working on several fronts in the matter, the river water has continued to be muddled.To ensure 100% treatment of sewage to prevent contamination of the river water, Delhi government planned to construct three new STPs, new decentralised sewage treatment plants, rehabilitation of three existing STPs and capacity enhancement of the existing STPs. Of the three new STPs, the Okhla project, the biggest one, is yet to be completed. It was initially to have been commissioned by December 2022. On May 2 this year, DJB vice-chairman Somnath Bharti claimed that much of the work was done and the STP would be commissioned by June. However, the new deadline came and went.Similarly, of the 18 STPs identified for upgradation, the deadline for nine plants has changed from December this year to March 2024. They include Nilothi Phase 2, Keshopur Phase 2 and 3, Narela and Coronation Pillar Phase 1 and 2. Only two of the 18 are anywhere close to completion.Cleaning the 200km of underground trunk sewer lines has also been only partly accomplished. The minutes of the high-level committee’s latest meeting says only 90.3km have been desilted when the entire stretch was to have been cleaned by June. A DJB official explained, “All the DJB projects have been hit by a funds crunch. The finance department has been objecting to and raising questions whenever we seek approvals for funds.” There was no official response from the water utility to TOI’s queries.In September, at a review meeting, DJB officials informed the government that the Najafgarh drain alone contributed around 67% to the river’s total pollution load. The high-level committee’s data shows that 21 of the 44 untrapped drains falling into the Najafgarh drain have been trapped now. About 450 million gallons per day of wastewater flows into the drain daily. Trapping the sub-drains falling into the Shahdara outfall drain and supplementary drain will likely be completed by December.It has proved challenging for DJB to install sewer connections in many slums because of narrow lanes. The water utility, therefore, began working on ‘decentralised STPs’ in unauthorised colonies with enough land. DJB has assessed that 318 such colonies need such facilities, and has completed them in seven while continuing work in 140. There are 161 colonies where the forest department’s no-objection to the projects is awaited.A DPCC official listed its efforts to bring unauthorised colonies under the sewerage network to prevent untreated waste from reaching the river. “Only two common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) to treat effluent from industries met the norms in 2021. Now, all 13 CETPs comply with the standard,” the official claimed.The steps taken haven’t changed the quality of water. Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s reports on Yamuna water samples show that dissolved oxygen level, which should be 5 mg/l or above to support aquatic life, met the standard at Palla and Wazirabad in October this year and last year, but DO was nil at five locations in October 2022 and only at Asgarpur this year. The levels were extremely low at Agra Canal Okhla (0.4 mg/l), Okhla Barrage (0.7 mg/l), Nizamuddin Bridge (1mg/l), ISBT Bridge (1.3 mg/l) and ITO Bridge (2.2 mg/l).The prescribed biochemical oxygen demand, which indicates requirement of oxygen, is 3mg/l or less. The reading was 36 mg/l at ISBT Bridge, 43 mg/l at Agra Canal Okhla, 41 mg/l at Okhla Barrage and 50 mg/l at Asgarpur this October. The water in the major drains also tested below the required standard in respect of BOD.Experts aren’t too happy with the extended deadlines. Yamuna activist Diwan Singh said, “It’s high time the court gave a timeline and the Delhi and central governments stuck to the deadlines.” Bhim Singh Rawat, associate coordinator, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, added, “While the focus of the high-level committee has been treating pollution, which is an unending process, the July floods were due to encroachments and constructions on the floodplain. The committee must also focus on ensuring environment flow in the river, protect its floodplain and involve independent experts and civil society.”