Even though the overflowing Yamuna has brought misery to hundreds of families living in low-lying areas in the Capital, but the flood, in its own way, is also silently benefiting the ecology of the Capital. The flood has achieved what three Yamuna Action Plans (YAP) and thousands of crores of rupees spent on trying to revive the gasping river failed to do, i.e. give a fresh lease of life to the dying river.
According to environmentalists and experts, the gushing flood waters will not only clean the Yamuna by pushing away the filth in it, but will also facilitate in replenishing the depleted ground water levels in the Capital.
The experts said this form of natural cleaning of the Yamuna usually happens around August-September but this year the flood has hit the city in June due to early arrival of monsoon.
With the aquatic life in the Yamuna being replaced by froth and hazardous pollutants, the relentless flow of flood waters might bring the river back to life as fresh water will replace the polluted water. This in turn also helps in making the soil more fertile.
Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh said: “At least, now it looks like a river. The excessive amount of water being released into the Yamuna will help recharge aquifers. The biggest advantage of the Yamuna is that its basin acts as a sponge. It absorbs as much water as it can during the monsoon and releases some of it during the summers.
“Moreover, it will also eliminate other impurities from the river. A flood always helps maintain the bio-diversity of the area.”While lamenting the wasted efforts and huge expenditure incurred on cleaning the Yamuna, Singh added that the administration has failed to take advantage of this flood.
“The Government should have allowed back flow of the flood water into major drains. That water could have been accumulated in water bodies from where it could have been drawn during a water scarcity. Now, all the water has gone waste,” he said.
Soumitra Mukjherjee, Professor of Geology and Remote Sensing at the School of Environment Studies at JNU said: “A flood also facilitates vegetation growth as it adds moisture to the soil in the flood plain area.
“There should be a flood mapping system in which satellite imaging should be done. With this, traces of flood that occurred years ago can be observed and cues can be taken from it.”
Expressing a similar opinion, Manoj Mishra, Convenor, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, said the best part of this massive flood is that the ground water level will be recharged.
“Flood is a very natural process. It increases the water level by 10 per cent on an average. last year, when the river water level reached 204.7 m, the ground water in the Yamuna flood plain rose by 1.5 metres from 6 metres,” said Mishra.
The second benefit, according to him, is that the soil becomes very fertile. “The flood waters come from the mountains that contain a high amount of silt. The silt which settles along the river bed is very conducive for crops, thereby increasing its fertility,” added Mishra. He further said that an overflowing river helps recreate water bodies in the nearby areas.
Also, a flood greatly contributes to moderate the micro-climate in the city where it occurs. “Water forms a significant part of the climate. The increase in water content of a river will definitely benefit the ecosystem. The dissolved oxygen level was zero. Biotic animals and plants are dependent on the dissolved oxygen in water. Now certainly the scenario is a brighter one,” he maintained.
Mishra further said that now the Government should prohibit any further construction activities on the flood plains. “There must be restriction on sewer water flowing into the Yamuna. The water emanating from drains should be treated and diverted to agricultural land or for other use. Then we will not require to spend crores for cleaning the river,” he said.