Question

need urgent answers answers of first 2 are important  Places in India where Yamuna River is found.
 Compare the level of pollution in Yamuna River at those places
 Causes of its pollution
 Effect of this pollution on plants, animals and environment
 Remedial measures suggested by you
 Steps taken by the government to clean Yamuna

Answer 1

ans 1 :Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,Delhi
ans 2 : sorry i didnt know this....
ans 3: It is believed that New Delhi dumps about 58 percent of its waste into this river. Reports have also suggested that the river is full of excreta and is thus, unfit for bathing or even washing clothes, let alone drinking.

While there were 81 industries along the periphery of Yamuna in the year 2000, now about 500 factories exist and produce waste such as leather discharging chromium, arsenic and cadmium.

Its not only the industrial sector that needs to be blamed, but also the poor sewage system, saturated landfills, human settlements around the river and the agricultural waste that gets washed into it. Insecticides and pesticides contribute to the pollution.  There are also the people who wash clothes, utensils and defecate in or around the river, thus leading to pollution.

Other reasons that can be attributed to the pollution are cattle washing, untreated waste either domestic or industrial and religious activities including immersion of idols.

Unbelievable as it is, even Delhi Metro has had its fair share of opportunity to sully the holy river. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has dumped over 50,400 metric tones of debris in the riverbed. They have also admitted that 10,000 metric tones of debris has been dumped at a site near Sarai Kale Khan on the western bank of Yamuna.

ans4:Its not surprising that our actions have backfired. Yamuna in Delhi has a zero amount of dissolved oxygen, due to which it is unable to support any marine life. And the biodegradable waste dumped into the water has led to the formation of algae (also called Eutrophication) which is also leading to a reduction in the  levels of oxygen in water.

The arsenic levels have increased 20 times in the last 20 years. It is infamously known as “slow poison” and cause cancer and skin problems. Studies have suggested that farmers using  water with high arsenic levels have suffered from such diseases.


ans6:Even though the government has been making promises to clean up the Yamuna since the 1990s, the problem is far from being addressed efficiently.

Over 2000 crores have been spent by the Government of India and regional governments of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for this purpose. In the year 2009, Delhi government entered into an agreement with the Engineers India Limited to clean Yamuna. Various slums have been removed from the riverfront and several inexpensive toilets have been installed.

Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) has been implemented by the Government of India with the help of the Government of Japan since 1993. Under this plan, the Ministry of Environment and Forests has undertaken numerous measures to clean the river. In the year 2007, a plan to repair sewage line was made to improve the water quality by 2010.

But in 2009, Union government admitted to the failure of Yamuna Action Plan (YAP), saying that despite having spent around thousand crore rupees on the project, it was no cleaner than how it was two decades ago.

Even after witnessing the inefficient efforts and poor implementation of YAP I and YAP II; YAP III will be initiated, which will focus on treating the damaged trunk sewers, rehabilitation and modernization of sewage treatment plants, construction of new plants and various other measures.

In National Green Tribunal’s recent verdict which was headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, it has been decided that anyone found dumping debris on the Yamuna river bank would have to pay a fine of five lakh rupees. Hopefully, this will act as a deterrent.

Also, the DMRC director, Mangu Singh, has promised that the debris dumped on the banks would be shifted to a processing unit at Burari by 15 August and that no waste, generated during the Phase III expansion, will be dumped along the banks of Yamuna.

It is important to realize the need for cleaning and protecting the rivers of our land. A large population in India suffers from diseases such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery. While these diseases are caused by the degraded condition of the water supply, sewage system and sanitary facilities, it does not only have an adverse effect on people’s health but also affects the economy.

The government spends thousands of crores of rupees on health and medicine facility in our country. If the expenditure is done on improving the availability and quality of water, the health and living standards could be improved by many folds.