Touching faith in technology to clean Yamuna

Sheila defends new technology for Yamuna

NEW DELHI: Defending the interceptor sewage system as the best method of cleaning the Yamuna, Sheila Dikshit said that the earlier technologies under the Yamuna Action Plan, on which crores had been spent, were "not correct''. With the new technology, she said the river would be clean in another seven to eight years.

Having headed the environment ministry earlier, Dikshit said that even this term, environment will get special attention by her cabinet. "The Yamuna and air pollution are under special scrutiny. However, our aim is to ensure that we have maximum participation in this effort by all Delhiites,'' said Dikshit.

The interceptor system has come in for a lot of flak from both environmentalists and certain segments of the government despite which Dikshit and Delhi Jal Board have gone ahead with the plan. The initial project report has just been submitted to DJB and work on it is likely to be completed by 2012.

"The technologies we had applied earlier were not suitable for the project. The Yamuna has a character of its own and we feel the interceptor sewage system is best suited for it. It will take about seven to eight years to clean the river and I am hoping the effects start showing much earlier,'' she said.

On Sunday, Dikshit attended the annual eco-club meet at Pragati Maidan, organized by the environment ministry. Several Delhi eco-clubs and local NGOs have set up stalls at the meet, that will go on till December 17.

Dikshit also added that her department was strongly promoting the use of CFLs that had crossed the one million mark in the city. It was also providing a 30% subsidy on the purchase of electronic cars and two-wheelers, a programme that had received a phenomenal response from Delhiites. "Those who have purchased battery-operated vehicles are extremely happy with them. Rs 2 crore, that has been collected as cess on diesel from the city, has already been sanctioned for this project,'' revealed J K Dadoo, secretary, ministry of environment.

TOI

DJB’s plans to tackle unclean Yamuna: more drains, sewage treatment plants

New Delhi Untreated sewage and industrial waste dumped in the city’s drains and eventually flowing into the Yamuna, along with no desilting or channelisation of drains, are among the major factors polluting the river’s 22-km stretch in Delhi. This was pointed out by the DJB at Water Asia 08 — a three-day exhibition on the water industry to tackle the unprecedented growth in the demand of water.

The exhibition-cum-conference saw over a 100 participants from more than 12 countries exhibiting the latest technologies and equipment in sewage water treatment and wastewater treatment.

A presentation made by the agency’s Chief Engineer R S Tyagi on ‘Pollution in River Yamuna and Action Plan of Delhi Jal Board’, underlined the fact that a large part of Delhi that still remains without sewerage facilities — none of the 189 rural villages in Delhi have municipal sewerage yet. The 1,500 unauthorised colonies and 1,080 JJ clusters too share the same fate. Out of a total number of 567 unauthorised-regularised colonies in Delhi, 44 are still to have sewage, while 27 out of the 189 urban villages in Delhi are in the same boat.

Among the top priorities for the DJB and the Delhi government will now be to provide sewerage facilities in these areas, and desilting and refurbishing the old sewerage lines. Work on the same has already been taken up by the Board. A detailed report by its project management consultants, M/s Engineers India Limited, is due by December 15. The groundwork on DJB’s Interceptor Sewage Plan is slated to begin in March 2009 and will be completed by January 2012.

Another solution was the construction of sewage treatment plants (STP) on the mouth of major drains. The total discharge of the 17 drains in Delhi is over 613 million gallons per day.

At least 78 small drains fall into the Najafgarh drain, 40 into the Shahdara drain and at least 103 fall into the supplementary drain. The DJB recommended intercepting the sewers along these drains, which will in turn be treated at the nearest STP. DJB plans to tap 13 in the existing trunk sewers. The capacity of the existing STPs will be increased to treat the total discharge.

Indian Express