The Yamuna grew to become extra polluted within the month of March compared to February, the most recent Delhi Air pollution Management Committee (DPCC) month-to-month water high quality report has discovered.
Faecal coliform — an indicator of sewage getting into the river — peaked at 400,000 MPN/100ml (items) in March this yr, in comparison with a peak of 110,000 items in February, the report launched on Friday confirmed. It shouldn’t exceed 2,500 items.
The organic oxygen demand (BOD), indicating how a lot oxygen organisms is required to outlive within the water, in the meantime adopted an analogous pattern. The BOD peaked at 60 mg/l in March — 20 occasions the secure restrict of three mg/l. It was at a peak of 36 mg/l in February.
Nonetheless, knowledge additionally exhibits Delhi is faring a lot better this March – as in comparison with March 2025. In March final yr, faecal coliform peaked at 1.3 million items, whereas BOD peaked at 70 mg/l.
To make sure, consultants mentioned the air pollution within the river tends to rise at the moment of the yr, attributing it being lean season when there’s considerably much less rainfall alongside the river’s catchment. This additionally ends in lesser water being launched downstream of the Hathnikund barrage and a lowered environmental-flow (e-flow) — required to flush away pollution naturally. Nonetheless, they flagged sharp peaks within the air pollution downstream of Wazirabad as a priority.
“The newest knowledge for water high quality in Delhi’s drains exhibits the BOD of the Najafgarh drain was 60 mg/l in March and 65 mg/l in February. But, we see a pointy rise in air pollution downstream of the drain in March – compared to February. We have to assess the place this air pollution is coming from, if the general air pollution lowered within the Najafgarh drain,” mentioned Pankaj Kumar, a Yamuna activist.
He additional flagged fluctuations within the Sonia Vihar drain as a reason behind concern, questioning why, regardless of the federal government claiming STPs have been absolutely practical, air pollution nonetheless appears to be growing. “This both means effluents are reaching from someplace, or there are untapped sources,” he added.
Dissolved oxygen (DO) – important for aquatic life – ranged between 3.1 mg/l and 4 mg/l between Palla and Wazirabad in March, however was zero downstream. It needs to be not less than 5 mg/l or increased – indicating a excessive air pollution load within the river. In February, it ranged between 0.4 mg/l until 8.2mg/l, however was zero at solely two places.
To evaluate Yamuna’s river high quality, water samples are collected manually from the Yamuna from eight completely different places – starting at Palla, the place the river enters Delhi; at Wazirabad, ISBT Kashmere Gate, ITO bridge, Nizamuddin bridge, Okhla barrage, Agra Canal and at last Asgarpur, after which the river exits Delhi.
Bhim Singh Rawat from South Asia Community on Dams, Rivers and Individuals (SANDRP) mentioned the DPCC newest month-to-month Yamuna water high quality take a look at report “solely reconfirms what we already know – that the river is ecologically useless”.
“Information exhibits it’s completely unfit for any type of use and has grave well being implications. Feacal ranges have been detected six folds increased even at Palla, which reveals untreated effluents are getting into the river from the Haryana facet and contaminating potable water provide of Delhi. General, it underlines the abysmal failure of air pollution prevention, management mechanisms as basic flaws proceed to plague the remedy infrastructure within the metropolis,” he added.