Yamuna Action Plan - The River Yamuna - Delhi Stretch

Delhi Stretch

With an annual flow of about 10,000 cubic meters and usage of 4,400 cubic meters (of which irrigation constitutes 96 per cent), the river accounts for more than 70 per cent of Delhi’s water supplies. The water of Yamuna is of "reasonably good quality" through its length from Yamunotri in the Himalayas to Wazirabad in Delhi, about 375 km, where the discharge of waste water through 15 drains between Wazirabad barrage and Okhla barrage renders the river severely polluted after Wazirabad in Delhi. The media generally describes the river as “dead” and "sewage drain" with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) values ranging from 14 to 28 mg/l and high coliform content.

There are three main sources of pollution in the river, namely households and municipal disposal sites, soil erosion resulting from deforestation occurring to make way for agriculture along with resulting chemical wash-off from fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and run-off from commercial activity and industrial sites.

Read more about this topic:  Yamuna Action Plan, The River Yamuna

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