Yamuna starts from Uttarakhand and travels via Himachal, Haryana, Delhi and U.P and eventually merges into Ganga at Prayag, Allahabad. Several thousand crores rupees have been spent on purification of Yamuna but to no avail.

Objectives covered

A. Root cause of Yamuna Pollution.

B. Need for comprehensive study and assessment of the extent of pollution in different states.

C. Pollution causes and suggested solutions.

D. To Increase and ensure Fresh Water inflow into Yamuna.

A. Root cause of Yamuna Pollution

The following factors have been responsible for killing the Yamuna River:

a) Apathy of the State Government(s) involved.

b) Corrupt Water Pollution Board officials.

c) Callous attitude of industry and mindless profiteering. 

d) Lack of involvement of people.

The rivers should be declared as a National Resource and this subject should be handled purely by the Centre only. The requisite calibre required for handling this subject is missing in the State Governments.

B. Need for comprehensive study and assessment of the extent of pollution in different states

Right from the beginning, the Centre has been pumping money into cleaning of Yamuna without assessing the needs of Yamuna.

You cannot revive a tree without watering its roots. Until now, the efforts have been to wash the leaves of the tree without caring for the roots. The trouble of Yamuna starts much before it enters Delhi. The entire stretch from Paonta Saheb till Delhi is dotted with industries and small cities and towns situated on the banks of Yamuna which add generously to the miseries of the Yamuna.

We also need to study the effect of reckless farming with highly dangerous chemicals which eventually get mixed up in Yamuna thru rain water.

We need to undertake study of Yamuna and its tributaries right from Uttarakhand uptil Prayag. The small or big drains adding to these tributaries and Yamuna must be identified and we should undertake aerial imaging and also satellite imagery of these drains/nallahs to assess the pollutants being added through them. It is easier to deploy high technology and assess the pollutants.

C. Industrial Pollution causes and suggested solutions

There are lot of industries like distilleries, paper mills, and metal working units, chemical plants, electroplating units, PCB units, automotive ancillaries, textile dying units and leather tanneries which add to the woes of Yamuna.

Causes:

1. Greed

2. Lack of Training

3. Lack of Awareness

4. Lack of Treatment Plants

Suggested Solutions:

a) State should ensure implementation of pollution norms by large units.

b) ZERO DISCHARGE POLICY should be evolved and implemented.

c) Working on PPP basis, specialised companies be entrusted the job of treating the outlet water in the common Industrial Areas and all the units should be connected with the ETP through pipeline on pay by use basis.

d) Units scattered outside the Industrial Areas should be encouraged to send their pollutants through tanker basis to the common ETP.

e) Where none of the above is possible then, units should be closed down and rehabilitation of that unit should be done by providing seed capital and training.

f) It should be mandatory for the owner of the polluting company to undergo training for minimum 2 hours every month on pollution treatment.

g) The State should ensure implementation of training program on real time basis through software otherwise his pollution clearance should be suspended.

h) State should have a battery of trainers on various industries to train the owner’s and senior staff on that particular subject.

i) In all the concerned states and cities, exhaustive survey should be undertaken with the help of industries department, pollution department, industries association and prominent citizens of the city concerned. This will help in assessing the type of pollution treatment plants needed and the size of the plants can also be determined.

Further, we can shortlist certain plant suppliers and approve the standard plant rates for different capacities which the industries can buy out as readymade modules. The procedure for pollution approval needs to be simplified.

Also, independent surveyors and assessors should be deployed to keep checking the pollution levels of the city as a whole.

We should rope in Celebrities to this cause as ’YAMUNA MITRA’.

D. To Increase and ensure Fresh Water inflow into Yamuna

At this moment, there is hardly any water left in the Yamuna after eastern Yamuna canal and western Yamuna canal are bifurcated from Yamuna at Tajewala Head works.

There was a proposal sometime back to construct Kissau Dam and Lakhwar Dam upstream of Yamuna and Tons River which is a major tributary to Yamuna. While Kissau Dam proposes to produce 660 MW power and it is a gravity dam, the cost of the dam is around 7000 crores and Lakhwar Dam, the potential is 300 MW. 90% cost of the Kissau Dam is to be borne by Central Government and the project will be operational by 2023. This project would mean that throughout the year, Yamuna will have around 12000 cusecs of water. This will ensure that whatever residual pollution comes to Yamuna will be constantly washed away and whatever treatment is given to the pollutants will be effective in keeping the Yamuna in good health.