Yamuna Action

Plan
Presented by:
● Rohan Vaid - 17101004
● Aaru Gulati - 17101009
● Anvi Jain - 17101024
● Bhaskar Sharma - 17101016
● Radhika Agarwal - 17101017
Introduction

Water environment problems are increasingly becoming serious across the

Asia, This is attributed to the rising human population, urbanization and
economic activities. Riverine water resources, in particular, are
increasingly becoming vulnerable to quantity decline and quality
degradation due to human activities, more so in a country like India,
which has as many as fourteen rivers and several cities alongside them.
River Yamuna is one of the major rivers in India.
About Yamuna
● Largest Tributary of Ganges and an acclaimed holy river in hindu
mythology
● Origin : Saptrishikund (Yamnotri Glacier - 380 59’ N 780 27’E)
● Length : 1367km ( till its confluence with Ganges at Allahbad)
● Emerges into Indo-gangetic plain at Dakpatthar.
● Flow regulated and directed into irrigation canals
at Dakpatthra.
 About Yamuna
● Almost dry in some stretches between Hathnikundin, Haryana and Delhi.
From Hathnikund the river reaches Delhi at Palla after travelling a
distance of about 224 km.
● Wazirabad Barrage - Urban agglomeration
● After 22km, Okhla Barrage - Agra Canal
● Gokul Barrage (Mathura) - Drinking Water Supply
● After traversing another 790km, it joins river
Ganges at Allahbad

(Wazirabad
Barrage)
Sources of Pollution in Yamuna

● Industrial Effluents
● Domestic Waste Water
○ Increases ammonia concentration
○ Water becomes untreatable if ammonia concentration reaches 0.4
mg/L
○ Delhi contributes approximately 23% of total waste water
● Pollution from Agriculture
○ Usually in the non-monsoon time majority of the river streams shrinks
and their catchment areas are used for farming
○ Directly contributing pesticide and fertilizer residue
● Solid Waste
○ Permissible content of suspended solids : 100 mg/L
○ Content of suspended solids in Yamuna : 1000 - 10000 mg/L
Water Quality Issues
● HIGH ORGANIC CONTENTS
○ high amount of organic matter - domestic sources.
○ oxygen depletion - affects biotic community of the river and its self
purification capacity
○ critical in the river stretch between Delhi and confluences of river with
Chambal
● HIGH NUTRIENTS
○ High nutrients concentration leads to Eutrophication
● EXCESSIVE PRESENCE OF PATHOGENS
○ Continuous flow of sewage waste etc & instream uses of water like bathing
etc contribute significant load of pathogens
Water Quality Issues

● ACCUMULATION OF POLLUTANTS IN THE CATCHMENT AREA

○ Pollutants generated from agricultural and industrial sources are
accumulated near the source making water unfit for human
consumption.
● DEFORESTATION IN THE CATCHMENT AREA
○ Deforestation leads to soil erosion - mixing of high amount of silt, mud
-increases the turbidity
● REDUCTION IN THE QUANTITY OF WATER
○ Yamuna River is over exploited resulting very little or sometimes no
water in the river which hampers the purification capacity of the river
and causes increase in concentration of pollutants in the river water.
WATER QUALITY STATUS OF YAMUNA

● Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

○ The COD level in Yamuna ranges from 1 to 50 mg/L from its
origin to Palla
○ The COD level start increasing from Nizamuddin Bridge.
○ In general, the values of COD were in the range of 140 mg/l
to 260 mg/l for June, 80 mg/l to 172 mg/l for October and 80
mg/l to 244 mg/l for February
WATER QUALITY STATUS OF YAMUNA

● pH
○ The optimum pH for river water is around 7.4 while the pH in
the entire Yamuna stretch varied from 6.11 (Yamunotri) to
9.39 (Bateshwar)
○ At all the locations upstream of Mathura, the value of pH
meets the higher limit i.e. 9.00
● Ammonia and TKN
○ The values of ammonia in the entire Yamuna stretch were
varies from beyond traceable limit to 43.34 mg/l at Mazawali
○ Significantly, high concentration of ammonia might be due to
contribution from industrial sources.
WATER QUALITY STATUS OF YAMUNA

● Bacteriological Characteristics
○ Coliforms are bacteria that are always present in the digestive
tracts of animals, including humans, and are found in their wastes
○ Total coliforms include bacteria that are found in the soil, in water
that has been influenced by surface water, and in human or
animal waste.
○ Fecal coliforms are the group of the total coliforms that are
considered to be present specifically in the gut and feces of
warm-blooded animals.
○ A ratio (of FC & FS) of greater than 4 is considered indicative of
human faecal contamination whereas a ratio of less than 0.7
indicative of nonhuman contamination
Yamuna Action Plan- I & II
Yamuna Action Plan - I

● The YAP I was initiated by GoI in April 1993 to abate the pollution and
improve the water quality of river Yamuna. YAP I was scheduled for
completion in April, 2002, but the planned projects continued until
2003. The year 2002-03 is called as extended phase of YAP-I.
● YAP was entrusted under the National River Conservation Directorate
(NRCD) in Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).
Yamuna Action Plan - I

The main activities covered under YAP for Haryana, Delhi and U.P were
interception and diversion works, pumping stations, STPs, low cost toilet
complex, crematorium, plantation, bathing ghat / river front development,
public participation and awareness and computer networking system.

Other supplementary work includes sludge drying beds, rising mains,

replacement of old pipes, installation of dg sets, fire fighting systems, lining
of pond. The extended phase addressed the non-sewerage related aspects,
including public participation and capacity building works
Salient Features

● SEWAGE SCHEME
○ 29 STP’s (Capacity - 726 MLD)
○ 58 Pumping Stations
○ 179 km of sewers proposed
● SECONDARY SCHEME
○ 1282 public toilet complexes
○ 96 crematoria
○ River front development
○ plantation
○ public awareness and
Results of YAP - I
● According to a report by World Wide Fund for nature (WWF) India, ‘Haryana
fared better than U.P. as infrastructure work has been completed and is working
well, with plants having insufficient sewage to treat.
● Treated effluents are discarded into drains or canals and biogas utilization is
poor. In both states improved wood-based crematoria haven’t taken off which
were intended to reduce the wood use and time taken by half
● In Delhi, the plan’s outcome is yet invisible. The sewerage component of Delhi
was under-estimated and the STP capacity created by the city government
concurrently with YAP remains under-utilized to the extent of 25-45%.
○ This is due to limitations of the collection system resulting in the flow of
untreated sewage into the river. Similarly, STPs in other reaches were
under-utilized due to a combination of limitations in the collection system
and power availability. YAP-I did not adequately addressed non-point
sources of pollution.
Results of YAP - I

● Sewage treatment capacity under YAP-I were formulated for 1997

population loads without considering any population projection. For
example, YAP-I was able to create 3.5 million Population Equivalent
(PE) of net STP capacity in 14 towns in Haryana and U.P. However, by
2002, the total population of these towns was close to 6.7 million
creating a shortfall of 3.2 million PE
● Source : www.pmc4yap2.com)
Yamuna Action Plan - II

In order to achieve the desired river standards India launched YAP II in

December 2004. It was scheduled to be completed by September, 2008

The Yamuna Action Plan Project Phase II is regarded as the core project
under the National River Conservation Plan of Government of India. The
project addresses the abatement of severe pollution of the River Yamuna by
raising sewage treatment capacity, caused by rapid population growth,
industrialization and urbanization in the towns of the river basin, which
includes Delhi, the capital of India.
Objectives

1. Promotion of local self responsibility for a clean environment .

2. Improvement of public health by proper segregation and disposal of waste .

3. Organizing rag pickers for collection of recyclable materials at the community level .

4. Attitudinal change and resource recovery.

5. Providing health education to rag pickers and suggestion tools for safety .

6. Providing employment through organizing door to door collection of waste .

7. Encouraging composting of biodegradable waste.

Highlights of YAP - II

· In Haryana, the river quality was maintained as per standards with DO values
above 5.0 mg/l and BOD values less than 3.0 mg/I. For example, the DO value at
Kalanaur (2009) is 9.1 and BOD values is 2.33.

· In Delhi the river quality is still poor and not meeting the required standards with
DO values < 5.0 mg/l and BOD values >3.0 mg/l.

· The poor quality trend continues D/S Delhi with values of DO and BOD
fluctuating uptoMajhawali and also d/s Agra. However, the values improved at
Auraiya.
Analytics of YAP - I&II
 Water Quality Data
Source:http://envfor.nic.in/nrcd/NRCD/Yamuna.htm
 BOD Load of Yamuna

Source: Water quality monitoring reports, CPCB

 In Delhi, the water quality
has not improved.
Wazirabad especially in
terms of DO, BOD and
bacterial contamination.
Delhi has seen no
improvement in terms of DO
level in the river throughout
the stretch and the levels of
bacterial contamination is
quite high from the
standards.

Souce: water quality monitoring reports CPCB (2002-2009)

 Status of STP’s

Source: //envfor.nic.in/nrcd/NRCD/Yamuna.htm
Failure of YAP
● Inefficient STP development and utilization
○ Yap 2 - 30% completed by 2009
● Formulated with inaccurate assumption of population dynamics
○ Population Equivalent (PE) of net STP capacity
● Improper Implementation
○ the chemical industry has not been booked for
discharging untreated effluents into the river
○ it has failed to involve universities and technical
institutes to handle the public awareness, and
relies on NGOs and public relations/marketing
agencies to disseminate “Save the Yamuna”
messages at higher cost.
Bibliography

● http://fore.yale.edu/files/Sharma_and_Kansal-
Yamuna_Action_Plan.pdf
● http://www.yamunariverproject.org/assets/cpcb_2006-water-
quality-status.pdf
● https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263363809_River_water
_conservation_through_Management_interventions_A_Case_Study
_of_Yamuna_Action_Plan_in_India
● http://file.scirp.org/Html/12-9401064_1806.htm