'90 percent in Delhi regard Yamuna water quality as poor'

Over 90 percent of the people surveyed in Delhi believe that the quality of the Yamuna river water is "poor" and hence it is not usable, a survey said on Wednesday.

The survey, conducted by The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), assessed the perception of the people about the overall quality of the river water. It showed that only five percent of the people regarded the water quality of river Yamuna as safe.

"In Delhi, 67 percent of the people during the survey perceived that the water colour of Yamuna has worsened over the last five years," said the survey.

The survey that assessed 3,016 people in the national capital further added that 62 percent of the respondents consider that the presence of fish in the river has also been affected due to the deteriorating condition of the river water.

"People's perception may or may not reflect reality; but they do reflect their confidence levels in governments, their engagement with common issues and their daily fears," Leena Srivastava, Acting Director-General, the energy and resources institute (TERI) said.

According to the survey, factors such as industries, factories, individual citizens and local government were responsible for the decreasing quality of the water in the river Yamuna.

The survey also indicates that 80 percent of the respondents attribute climate change to human activity.

"The report clearly brings out the deep concern of people for saving environment irrespective of age, income level and educational standard," Prakash, distinguished fellow, TERI said.

"Also, the successive annual environmental surveys indicate belief of majority of the people that the development and environment protection should be given equal emphasis and not pitted against each other," he added.