The river needs water, the govt has to provide it

By Rahul Gupta

Times of India. June 9, 2001

NEW DELHI: The Yamuna will continue to languish despite best efforts unless its most pressing problem - shortage of water - is resolved. The river has little water in summers, except for what is brought in by various drains: sewage and industrial effluents. Central Pollution Control Board chairman Dilip Biswas and Manu Bhatnagar of INTACH accept that the day the river receives the minimum required flow in summer, its revival will begin. The Supreme Court had asked the Yamuna water sharing states - Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh - to ensure the river receives a minimum flow of fresh water. This was fixed at 10 cumecs per second so that the lean season flow can wash away sewage that lies stagnant between various barrages in the city. Even the Planning Commission has held meetings with the states and set up a committee to ensure the minimum flow. And yet the river has very little water. ``We have a good amount of rainfall, but the sad part is because of poor storage, this water goes waste. We have to ensure that this water is collected and fed into the river. Also this will recharge the groundwater, which will benefit the Yamuna immensely.'' Regional planner Suresh Rohilla, who was part of INTACH's study on water harvesting, says: ``The river is the lowest point in the topography of an area. Not only the surface water, even groundwater flows towards the river. The groundwater recharges the river during the lean season.'' States should now conserve water for reviving the river, he adds. ``If historical water bodies are revived, the lean season flow of the river can be improved a lot.'' Rohilla suggests on-channel recharge, through which rain and flood water can be stored in existing drainage channels in the Yamuna catchment area. Biswas says nearly 90 per cent of the river's water is diverted for irrigation much before it reaches Delhi. ``We will have to rework and reverse our priorities concerning the use of river water. Right now, fresh water is used for agriculture, which on the contrary, can be used for maintaining the minimum water flow in the river. Instead, the irrigation departments can use treated municipal water. This water is rich in organic matter which enriches the soil. Farmers will benefit as they will cut down on the use of fertilisers,'' Biswas adds. INTACH consultant Manu Bhatnagar has a different suggestion. ``Deforestation in the upper catchment areas of the Yamuna has reduced the water flow considerably. Thickly forested catchment areas also replenish the water flow in the river during the dry seasons. ``The condition of the Yamuna is so bad that compared to the monsoon period, the flow drops to about 1/50th in the dry season. In other rivers this ratio is about 1/10. While the water flow improves considerably during the rainy season, it drops remarkably during the subsequent months.'' To compound the problem, estimates of the amount of water needed to recharge the river are themselves in doubt. Says Biswas: ``The calculation for the amount of fresh water was done nearly six years ago by the Upper Yamuna River Board. Ten cumecs of fresh water is a conservative estimate and had been arrived at when the demand for water was less. Now the river faces many more pressures. Which means this estimate also has to be revised.''