Even as the Haryana government and Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) have spent crores to set up sewage treatment plants (STPs) and common effluent treatment Plants (CETPs) to check the mixing of effluents, a ground report from Hathni Kund Barrage (HKB) in Yamunanagar and Kundli in Sonepat — the stretch through which the river flows — revealed that the Yamuna water continues to be unfit for human consumption.
Since the authorities have not been able to find a solution to utilise the treated water discharged from the STPs and CETPs, that water flows back to the drains.
A primary stumbling block against finding a solution is the high cost of installation of reverse osmosis (RO) systems to purify treated water.
In a bid to find a solution, the HSPCB (what) chairman announced that the government has prepared a detailed plan to utilise the water that’s been treated.
The Yamuna water distribution
At HKB in the Tajewala village of Yamunanagar district, 172 km from its point of origin in Uttarakhand — from where the Yamuna enters the plains and is sandwiched between Haryana and Uttar Pradesh borders — the water flow is about 4625 cusecs (a unit of flow equivalent to one cubic foot per second) or about 1,30,965 litre per second.
After the apportionment of 3254 cusecs (about 92,143 litre per second) for Haryana and Delhi through Western Jamuna Canal (WJC) and 1019 cusecs (about 28,854 litre per second) for Uttar Pradesh through Eastern Jamuna Canal (EJC), 352 cusecs (about 9967 litre per second) actually flow in the Yamuna.
And, it is this particular flow of 352 cusecs water, which bears the dirty brunt of untreated and treated pollutants.
The river water is allocated as per the water sharing agreement between Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi via the Western Jamuna Canal and Eastern Jamuna Canal from the HKB barrage (mentioned earlier.)
Set up by the Centre in 1995, the Upper Yamuna River Board is assigned the task of regulating the supply of water from all storages and barrages until the Okhla barrage in Delhi in accordance with the agreements between the governments of the six basin states of Uttar Pradesh (UP), Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
Contamination indicators turn red as the river flows through Haryana
Data from HSPCB showed that the Yamuna water at HKB was found to be comparatively better at 3.2 milligrams per litre biological oxygen demand (BOD), which represents how much oxygen is required to break down organic matter in water.
A retired HSPCB scientist Rajesh Gharia said that the river water, which has to be made fit for human consumption using the RO process should have a BOD level of below 10mg per litre and a faecal coliform level (a bacteria which is found in polluted waters after being discharged from residential and industrial areas) of less than 100 MPN (most probable number) per 100 ml.
Water with a BOD level of 10 mg per litre or below is good for agriculture and construction activity as well.
As the river flows through five districts of Haryana— Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Faridabad and Palwal (besides Yamunanagar) — the BOD levels increase in an alarming manner.
Data showed that the BOD levels at Karnal increases to 4.2 mg per litre and shoots up to 46 mg per litre at Panipat. At Sonepat, the BOD levels were 28 mg per litre while at Faridabad the levels were 24 mg per litre and 52 mg per litre at Palwal where the river ends its run in Haryana.
Faecal matter count gets worse too.
The levels of faecal coliform present in the river water were found to have deteriorated from 500 counts of MPN per 100 ml of water at Yamunanagar to 3400 count per 100 ml at Panipat.
It further increases to 5800 count per 100 ml of water at Sonepat, pushes further to 8000 count per 100 ml of water at Faridabad and 8500 count per 100 ml at Palwal.
These counts are alarming because board officials said that the permissible faecal coliform count is 100 MPN per 100 ml.
Drains polluting the Yamuna
HSPCB has identified 11 drains between Yamunanagar and Palwal which pour effluents in Yamuna, which are major sources of pollution in the river.
These drains discharged 540 million litres per day (MLD) of untreated effluent into the Yamuna as 25 sewage treatment plants (STPs) located in the Yamuna catchment area remain non-compliant with the prescribed standards.
Yamunanagar’s ‘Ganda Nallah’ (dirty drain) is the biggest source of pollutants.
Even more worryingly, around 50 MLD of industrial waste released from the industrial twin city of Yamunanagar-Jagadhari via the “Ganda Nallah” (dirty drain) of Yamunanagar also flows into the Yamuna.
This toxic water merges into the clean water of the Yamuna river near the Jarauli village of Karnal after travelling in Dhanaura Escape – a canal in which industrial waste of the Yamunanagar city is dumped and it merges with the Yamuna river near Karnal — for around 80 km.
This is the most visible source of pollution in Yamuna water. The BOD levels of Dhanaura escape stand at 5.8 mg per litre, while the levels of drain two before meeting Yamuna at Khojkipur village of Panipat is 68 mg per litre.
The BOD of drain number six before the water enters Delhi measured at 84 milligrams per litre.
The two Sewage Treatment Plants of 45 MLD set up by the Public Health Engineering department have been found insufficient to treat the over 50 MLD being discharged from the residential areas of these cities. Officials associated with the STP project said that a new plant of 70 MLD will be set up in Yamunanagar to treat this industrial waste.
Treated water going to waste
During a visit to the STPs and CETPs, many of which are complying with the pollution control board norms, it was found that authorities have not been able to find a solution for the utilisation of the treated water being discharged from these STPs and CETPs.
Around 38 MLD treated water coming out from the two STPs located on the outskirts of Yamunanagar mixes into the contaminated water of the Ganda Nallah (the dirty drain mentioned above.)
“This water is treated and it could be utilised for irrigation of crops but due to the lack of required mechanism, we have to dump it into the dirty canal”, said an official associated with the STP of Public Health Engineering Department.
Similar is the story of STPs in Samalkha and Panipat and HSIIDC’s CETPs located in the industrial areas of Panipat, Rai, Barhi, Kundli and Sonepat.
“Even industrial waste is different than domestic waste as it contains harmful chemicals but after treatment, it could be utilised for irrigation. But now it is being utilised to maintain the flow of water in drain number 1, 2, 6 and 8”, said Rahul Kumar, a technical expert at CETP in Panipat’s sector 29.
Representatives of private companies deputed to monitor STP operations have suggested that the water below 10 BOD could be utilised for agriculture and horticulture and can also be purified further to make it fit for human consumption.
But the government has no plans to utilise the treated water and it flows back into the polluted drain water to maintain the flow in Yamuna, said officials at the STPs and CETPs who did not wish to be identified.
Another way to use treated water for agriculture and even human consumption would be by installing RO systems, officials monitoring STPs and CETPs said.
HSPCB Chairman P Raghavendra Rao said that after a thorough study, they have prepared a detailed plan to utilise treated water for different purposes.
Haryana will be among very few states which will utilise treated water released from STPs and CETPs for different purposes, HSPCB said in a statement given to HT.
Technical experts working at the CETPs and STPs said that the cost of setting up RO systems to purify the treated water for human consumption is very high but the move will not only help to deal with the shortage of drinking water but will also cut pollution in the river.
More STPs, and CETPs needed
The estimated sewage generation in the Yamuna catchment area is 1,098 MLD while the total sewage generation in the Ghaggar catchment area is 291.46 MLD.
As per pollution control board officials, a total of 59 STPs with a capacity of 1075.2 MLD have been made operational in the Yamuna belt. As many as 25 STPs, however, have not met the prescribed parameters.
Also, there is a gap of 240 MLD in the installed treatment capacity at present, in comparison to the required amount in some towns in the catchment area of Yamuna, including 144.5 MLD in Faridabad, 86 MLD in Gurugram and 9.3 MLD in Palwal.
Out of the total 379 locations, where untreated or partially-treated effluent is being discharged into the rivers, the action plan to control pollution has been completed at only 129 locations, reveals the HPCB’s February 2021 progress report of Haryana government regarding the Ghaggar and Yamuna Action Plan.
Moreover, the inflow of the sewage at most of the STPs and CETPs is more than the capacity and the excess flow is released directly into the drains.
In Samalkha Public Health Engineering Department’s only STP of 5 MLD, which has been declared as non-compliant, is not sufficient to treat the entire sewage which is around 8 MLD.
The staff operating the STP said that they run the plant round the clock but its capacity is only 5 MLD and they have to discharge the remaining 3 MLD directly into drain number six which joins river Yamuna.
Sonu Kumar, an operator at the plant said that another plant of 5 MLD capacity is being set up but nobody knows when it will be completed.
Manoj Kumar a resident of Samalkha said that the plant was set up in 2002 but expressed concerns at the issue of sewage management.
“Even the number of factories and the number of households in the town got doubled in the past 21 years but nobody has taken the issue of sewage management seriously,” Kumar said.
Similarly, the 16 MLD CETP set up in the Barhi industrial area is not sufficient to treat the entire sewage generated from over 200 industries located in the area. Suresh N Bajpai, regional manager of Gharpure Engineering and Construction company which operates this CETP since November 2017, said, “This plant is automatic and the inlet takes effluent only as per its capacity. Work is on at another plant of 16 MLD capacity but it will take two years to make it operational,” officials said.
Reducing industrial pollution
There is a need to reduce the effluent being released from the industries located in the Yamuna catchment area. A total of 3505 industries located in this area generate 121.11 MLD sewage. The HSPCB’s February 2023 report however revealed that all the industries have effluent treatment plants (ETP) but out of the 3505 industries only 814 are connected to CETPs. Officials said that there is a total of 14 CETPs with a capacity of 161 MLD set up in the Yamuna belt whereas one CETP of 10 MLD is under construction and 7 CETPs with a capacity of 126.5 MLD are proposed.
The HSPCB officials said that they have taken action against the polluters, law violators and officers responsible for the failure of vigorous monitoring.
As per reports, a total of 1644 industries — including 1402 in the Yamuna catchment area, have been inspected in the state and closure notices to 1318 violating units have been issued, 422 violating units prosecuted and an environmental compensation of ₹94.6 crore has been imposed on 275 units along with ₹262 crore for legacy waste, the waste collected and stored at dumping sites, as per the Monthly Action Taken reports submitted by the HSPCB to the NGT, which didn’t specify the details of these factories.
The NGT had directed the Haryana government to commence setting up STPs and connecting all the drains and other sources of generation of sewage to the STPs by March 31, 2020.
The timeline for completing all steps of this action plan including setting up STPs and their commissioning was set for March 31, 2021.
Approximately 107 lakh MT of legacy waste was lying at the dumping sites in municipalities of the state out of which 43.23 lakh MT (40.4%) of legacy waste has been remediated.
Officials said that the state government has approved the allocation of funds of ₹262.67 crore for bioremediation of legacy waste. The first instalment of Rs.44.59 crore has been released by to the Urban Local Bodies department and a further limit of Rs. 115.47 crore has been assigned to various ULBs for bioremediation of legacy waste to implement the necessary measures for this purpose.
The HSPCB chairman said that the state government and HSPCB have taken the required steps to deal with problem of the sewage treatment. He said that most of the non-complying STPs were old and were not meeting the standards. That is why they have been declared non-compliant.
“Our top priority is to tap untreated effluent of industries being discharged into the river and we will achieve it by the end of the next year. Regular monitoring of the STPs, CETPs and industries and action is being taken for non-compliance,” he said.
