An environmentalist has written to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking action to clean Yamuna while citing the recent report of the Central Pollution Control Board which says Yamuna has an exceedingly high biochemical oxygen demand at three of the five locations in Delhi.
Vikrant Tongad of the NGO called Social Action for Forests & Environment has sent a letter to Mr. Kejriwal urging that quick action be taken to check pollution in Yamuna which has its most polluted stretch flowing throw the city.
The CPCB report released last month lists 275 polluted rivers. It shows vast stretches of rivers around Delhi, in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh also have stretches which do not meet water quality criteria.
It has samples of water tested from different stretches of various rivers flowing through every State.
The stretches of rivers not meeting with the criteria are identified as polluted stretches and categorized in five priority classes. As the level of Biochemical Oxygen Demand varies widely in river stretches, the same are prioritized in five categories based on BOD concentration consistently exceeding to BOD levels >30 mg/l, BOD between 20&30 mg/l, BOD between 10&20mg/l, BOD between 6- 10 mg/l and BOD between 3& 6 mg/l.
Water from Yamuna in Delhi was monitored at five locations of which water was found not complying with the quality criteria at three locations. All three locations are in Priority Class- I with a BOD level exceeding BOD concentration of 30 mg/l which has been considered as the standard of sewage treatment plant and in river it appears without dilution.
The polluted river stretch of Yamuna was from Wazirabad to Asgarpur village.
In Haryana, the situation was equally bad. Of the eight locations monitored on two rivers – Ghaggar and Yamuna, seven were found not complying with the quality criteria.
The polluted river stretches in Haryana fall in class II and IV with BOD concentration of 20-30 mg/l and 6-10mg/l respectively.
The polluted stretches of the Yamuna in Haryana are from Panipat to Sonepat and from Delhi to Faridabad, measuring 45 kms. The towns that fall along these stretches are Panipat, Sonipat, Faridabad, Ballabhgarh and Palwal.
The polluted stretches of river Ghaggar in Haryana was from Rorki to Sirsa which is a stretch of 30km.
In Uttar Pradesh also, among 64 monitoring locations on 16 rivers, 42 locations are exceeding the water quality criteria limit with respect to BOD.
These 42 non-complying locations are situated on 13 rivers – Gomti, Hindon, Kalinadi, Ramganga, Rapti, Rihand, Sai, Saryu, Ganga, Yamuna and Kosi.
