Noida: Despite lockdown, no respite for Hindon, Yamuna from pollution this year

Noida: Yet another year comes to an end with Gautam Budh Nagar continuing to be the district of two dying rivers.

Noida: Yet another year comes to an end with Gautam Budh Nagar continuing to be the district of two dying rivers.

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While experts call it ‘an opportunity missed’, the condition of two rivers – Hindon and Yamuna — which flow through a patch of the district is back to the square one as all the good that lockdown had incurred has been reversed.

According to the reports of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), while Yamuna was found to be highly polluted despite lockdown this year, the condition of Hindon worsened with more coliform content signalling higher dumping of untreated sewage into it.

This year too, both the rivers continue being rated under category ‘E’ making it unfit for drinking, bathing and fisheries, despite conventional treatment and disinfection.

According to the data (till October), Yamuna had a dissolved oxygen (DO) level while leaving Noida was 1.0 mg/l against 3.4 mg/l while entering (minimum requirement of 4 to 6 mg/l), against 0.3 mg/l (exit) and 2.6 mg/l (enter) last year. For the month of September and October, the DO levels in Yamuna in Noida was nil. For Hindon, however, DO has been consistently nil throughout the year.

Hindon starts to lose DO from an average of 1 mg/litre at Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad to nil by the time it reaches Noida and meets Yamuna. This year, however, it managed to sustain its DO levels a little further till Chijarsi village, Ghaziabad till it became nil by the time it reached Kulsera bridge, Noida.

Apart from that, Hindon also saw higher levels of total coliform content this year, against last year.

“Dissolved oxygen level is basically the life of the river, which being nil means that the river is virtually dead with water unfit for any consumption. Whereas higher levels of the total coliform shows that high volume of sewage is flowing through it,” said Rashmi Verma, senior policy fellow, department of science and technology (DTE) of the central government.

The average total coliform levels in the river Hindon for 2020 was 8,67,143 most probable number (mpn) /100ml against 2,56,667 last year. The permissible limit for total coliform ranges from 50 to 5,000 mpn/100ml

Hindon emerges from Shivaliks and enters the district after travelling over 300 kms. Throughout its 50 kms of length across the district, with scope of revival and before it disappears in almost equally polluted Yamuna, the water quality only worsens after being fed by untreated effluents being discharged from industries and illegal colonies, experts said.

“There had been no efforts either at administrative or local levels to improve the condition of river Hindon, while the pressure like sewers, etc. had been mounting. As the exploitation of Hindon and excessive load due to the population and industries would continue, there has to be a serious plan to improve it, else next year the condition of river would worsen,” said Vikrant Tongad, Noida-based environmentalist.

Meanwhile, even as Yamuna enters the city at Okhla Barrage with some life in it and an average DO value of 3.4 units this year (1.7 mg/l in September), it almost dies at Tilwada in Greater Noida where it meets Hindon.

According to the experts, condition of Yamuna is back to square one. “We can’t even visualise what Yamuna had been during a lockdown as it’s again highly polluted and back to square one. All the effect of lockdown has been worn out. There were two reasons that Yamuna revived during lockdown -- reduction in industrial waste and also due to western disturbances the river received fresh water due to rains,” said Manoj Mishra, environment activist who leads the campaign, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.

He, however, still sees some scope of improvement in both Hindon and Yamuna.

“There had been some takeaways from the lockdown which is that the rivers can revive if there is a flow of water and that the industries have to be upgraded in such a way that they have zero liquid discharge. Only this way we can revive both Yamuna and Hindon,” said Mishra.

According to the officials, the river requires flow and the illegal colonies need to be regularised.

“There has to be a sustainable flow in the river to improve dissolved oxygen levels. Also, the sewers have to be tapped to reduce faecal and total coliform. There are several illegal colonies along the Hindon and they are direct contributor to its pollution. For Yamuna, the Kondli drain that comes from Delhi and meets Yamuna at Tilpata that further worsens the pollution levels. There are plans being made with local agencies in loop and we hope for some improvement within next few months,” said an official at UPPCB on condition of anonymity.