Cleaning the Yamuna: Ganga clean-up lessons reveal challenges ahead

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Delhi has promised to clean up the Yamuna in three years. It is a highly ambitious task, and one hopes it succeeds. However, the experience with efforts to clean the Ganga has not been encouraging.

 

The Ganga Action Plan (GAP) was launched by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1985. In 2009, the Supreme Court asked for a report on the use of funds and assets created under GAP. As a member of the Planning Commission in charge of water, I was asked to prepare the report.

 

Change in water quality

 

Water quality was reported using three parameters along the river: Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), and Total Coliform Count (TC). Water with DO greater than 6 mg/litre, BOD less than 2 mg/litre, and TC below 50 most probable number (MPN) per 100 ml is considered fit for drinking, while for bathing, DO should be greater than 5, BOD less than 3, and TC less than 500.

 

In 1986, the DO levels were fit for drinking at all points except Varanasi, and in 2008, they were so at most places. Between 1986 and 2008, the BOD had improved but at many places it was still unfit for bathing and, certainly, not for drinking. The TC had worsened significantly across all sites, with water, except at Rishikesh, unfit for even bathing. At most places, TC levels were more than 10 times the permissible value, and at many locations, they exceeded it by more than 100 times. Even the faecal coliform count in 2008 in all places in Uttar Pradesh was above the permissible of 2,500 (MPN/100 ml) for bathing.

 

Sewage treatment plants

 

The first phase of GAP was launched in 1986, followed by the second phase in 1993. The target capacity of sewage treatment plants (STPs) was achieved in all states, and funds were more or less fully utilised in GAP 1. When I visited the cities, GAP 2 was still in progress. The Narendra Modi government launched the Namami Gange Project in 2014. Despite all these efforts, the STP capacity remains inadequate.

 

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), cities along the Ganga river generate approximately 2,723 million litres of sewage per day, with a treatment capacity established for around 1,208.8 million litres per day across various towns along the river, while cities along the Yamuna generate around 4,881.89 million litres of sewage per day, with a treatment capacity of 3,135.8 million litres per day across Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

 

Not only are the STP capacities inadequate, but when I visited six cities along the Ganga in 2009, most of them operated at only 70 per cent load factor. The availability of power supply was one reason. The other was that they were not provided adequate resources for maintenance. In many cities, numerous households were not connected to sewage lines, and their waste did not reach the STP. As a result, a significant fraction of sewage flowed into the rivers without treatment.

 

Water quality now

 

Though the situation has improved in recent years, the problems have not disappeared. This is reflected in the more recent data on river water pollution. The data on faecal coliform at interstate sites along the Ganga shows that it exceeded the permissible bathing level at five out of eight sites in July 2023, and at six out of eight sites in January 2023.

 

The CPCB website provides data on faecal coliform at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna, for 18 days during the Maha Kumbh, from January 12 to February 22. For five days, the water of the Ganga at the Sangam had a faecal coliform count above 2,500 MPN/100ml, exceeding the permissible level for bathing. The count for the Yamuna, just before the Sangam, was above this level for six days. This occurred despite special efforts to keep the water clean for the Maha Kumbh by pumping in fresh water.

 

Water quality in the Yamuna

 

The Yamuna has become one of the most polluted rivers in the world. The faecal coliform count in September 2024 was 4,900,000 MPN/100 ml, which is 1,959 times higher than the permissible bathing limit. According to the CPCB, the Yamuna water contains a concentration of 1.1 billion coliform bacteria per 100 ml of water, which is 22 million times the permissible level for bathing.

 

The BOD levels in the Yamuna in June were 2 mg/litre at Palla, where the river enters Delhi, but rose to a deeply worrying 85 mg/litre at Asgarpur, where it exits the city, according to the latest water quality report uploaded by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

 

The 13 km stretch from Signature Bridge to Okhla Barrage is heavily polluted, with around 20 drains discharging directly into the river. The BJP government has prioritised the Yamuna cleaning mission, which was a key issue during the recent elections.

 

The task ahead

 

To clean up the river, all 20 drains will need to be connected to sewage treatment plants, whose capacities will have to be increased. Additionally, new STPs will need to be constructed and their proper and full functioning ensured. Also adequate resources will have to be provided for operation and maintenance.

 

Moreover, it has to be ensured that all households are connected to drains and all industrial units have adequate effluent treatment plants. Doing this in three years is a challenging task that the new government in Delhi has promised to execute. One wishes them all the good luck.

The author is chairman, Integrated Research and Action for Development