Panel questions DJB's plan to clean up Yamuna by building new

A Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) committee has questioned the Delhi Jal Board's plan to clean up Yamuna by building 14 new sewage treatment plants (STPs) and has called for the optimum utilisation of the exisiting ones instead.
The committee, which has submitted its report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), has observed that the development of the proposed sites of STPs may take around "30- 40 years" and that several drains carrying wastewater are directly joining Yamuna without their water being treated at any of the operational sewage plants.
"Waste water generation in Delhi has been assessed as 4,200 MLD (million litres per day) and the waste water treatment capacity developed so far is 3059.48 MLD comprising 40 STPs.

"The capacity utilization is only 63.46 per cent as the amount of waste water reaching STPs is only 1941.67 MLD and 54 per cent of untreated sewage i.E. 2,259 MLD finds its way to river Yamuna and deteriorates its water quality," the CPCB Committee, which was mandated by the NGT, has observed.
Citing the report, Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan has written to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal underscoring the need for a "drastic change" in plans and an "overhaul" of DJB.
"Following the failure of the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) in operation since 1994, the Interceptor Drain project was launched at a huge cost DJB a few years back with December 2015 as its deadline (it is nowhere near completion yet).

"The situation calls for urgent intervention to ensure that the priorities at DJB are realigned from building new STPs and SPSs to optimising the existing sewerage infrastructure, as has been suggested by the CPCB report," Misra said.