Yamuna clean-up: Delhi Jal Board targets 6 most polluting drains for situ treatment

New Delhi, Aug 27 (PTI) The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) plans to roll out in situ water treatment of six of the city's largest and most polluted drains, officials said on Wednesday.

These drains, led by the heavily polluted Najafgarh and Supplementary drains, collectively dump around 1,050 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage mixed with untreated wastewater directly into the Yamuna.

"In situ treatment is when the waste flowing in the drain is treated within the drain itself. We have invited private experts in the field to come up with the ideas for the ways this plan can be further executed," a DJB official told PTI.

The 57-km Najafgarh drain — once the Sahibi River — has become the biggest source of pollution entering the Yamuna. Officials say the drain now carries approximately 600 million gallons per day (MGD) of untreated sewage into the river.

The DJB has taken the Delhi Pollution Control Committee's (DPCC) water quality report for the month of March, showing biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) levels in all the drains.

In the report, the Najafgarh drain is shown to have 96 mg per litre as the BOD levels of the water sample collected from the drain, which is over nine times the desired parameter of 10 mg/litre BOD.

"The objective of this Expression of Interest (EOI) is to identify and evaluate innovative technologies and solutions for the treatment of sewage-mixed water flowing through these drains," the official added.

In June, the Delhi government launched a 45-point plan to rejuvenate the Yamuna River within the next two years.

According to the reports, the city's second biggest drain, a 6-km supplementary drain, releases around 200 MGD of untreated waste into the river and also has the same BOD level as the Najafgarh drain.

The two drains are followed by the Shahdara drain and the Delhi Gate drain, with a BOD level of equally polluting 97 and 86.

The remaining two drains, the Sen Nursing Home drain and the ISBT drain, collectively add approximately 32.59 MGD of waste to the river's river.

"The ultimate goal is to eliminate the discharge of untreated sewage into the Yamuna River by in situ treatment of drains. The company has to prepare proposals and suggest installation and maintenance costs of these projects," the official added.

In the first budget of the newly elected BJP-led government, the water and sewerage sector has received one of the highest allocations at Rs 9,000 crore. PTI SSM SSM VN VN