Centre directs Haryana, UP to divert water from Munak canal, Ganga to revive Yamuna

At a recent meeting on the rejuvenation of the Yamuna, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were issued clear directions to increase environmental flow, trap drains and curb industrial effluents entering the river. According to officials, the meeting also decided to hire a third-party company to carry out an audit of all the drains in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi having an outfall into the Yamuna River.

“Three projects to boost the environmental flow (E-flow) in the upstream of the Yamuna River were discussed at the meeting, among other issues,” a senior government official said. The plan is to divert almost 800 cusecs of water from the Upper Ganga Canal (Uttar Pradesh) directly at the Wazirabad barrage to boost the environmental flow of the Yamuna.

Another project aims to add 100 cusecs of water from the Munak Canal (Haryana) directly into the river, the official said.

Environmental flow is the minimum flow required to maintain the ecological balance of a river.

Another project is to construct a third stream of water from the Hathnikind barrage into the river, which will help reduce the accumulation of silt and waste in the river, officials said.

To reduce pollution in the Yamuna, the government is also trying to improve the quality of the wastewater entering the river from the sewage treatment plants (STPs).

“The Jal Shakti Ministry, under the Yamuna rejuvenation plan, is hiring a third-party company to understand the real quality of water coming out from the STPs in the three states,” the official said.

The Delhi government has already launched a Sewerage Improvement Scheme (SIS), which is a comprehensive master plan to revamp the sewerage infrastructure in the capital.

“After the upgrade work, the STPs will be able to discharge treated water as per the standards set by the government and increase the treatment capacity also,” the official said.

Under the STP upgradation work, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is also improving the quality of water discharged, bringing it up to 10 biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) level, which is the prescribed limit, he said.

To clean the river from the drains in neighbouring Haryana, a deadline of 2026 has been set to regulate the outfall of all its drains up to the acceptable norms.

According to officials, to further reduce pollution emanating from several industries in Haryana, the setting up of more common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) has been directed.