Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena who heads the National Green Tribunal (NGT) appointed a high-level committee to clean the Yamuna, where a six-month plan of action with quantified timelines was charted out on eight parameters including augmenting sewage treatment and laying sewer network in unauthorised colonies. The green tribunal had earlier this month requested the Delhi LG to head the committee.
The eight parameters which includes-Enhancement of Sewage Treatment Capacity in Delhi & augmentation / rehabilitation of STPs that included construction of 40 new De-centralized STPs at different locations, progress in rehabilitation of 03 existing STPs at Kondli, Rithala and Yamuna Vihar, design upgradation of 18 existing STPs; Tapping of Drains and Treatment of Sewage in 44 Sub-drains that fall into the Najafgarh Drain, 30 Sub-drains that fall into the supplementary Drain and 02 sub-drains that fall into the Shahdara Drain.
The parameters are extension of Sewage Network in all the 1799 unauthorized colonies from the existing 747 and connection of drains / drainage system of 639 JJ clusters with sewerage network; upgradation of 13 CETPs for treatment and management of industrial effluent; septage (faecal sludge) management and eventually eliminating the system of septic tanks by connecting 08 lakh users to the sewage network; Regulation and rejuvenation of flood plains of the Yamuna; action plan for utilization of treated waste water and Ensuring minimum environmental flow (e-flow) in the Yamuna by the means of inter-state coordination.
Multiple reports submitted by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry have highlighted that the river cannot become fit for bathing in the absence of a minimum environment flow.
A study conducted by the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, had in 2019 recommended that 23 cubic metre per second (cumec) water (437 million gallons a day) be released in the river from the Hathnikund Barrage in Haryana’s Yamuna Nagar district in the lean season for sustaining downstream ecosystems.