Impact of Industrial Pollution on Yamuna River: A Review Manju, Smita Chaudhry Institute of Environmental Studies, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra [email protected]

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the impact of industrial pollution on Yamuna River based on studies over the last 10 years. The concentrations, sources, contamination levels and sampling methods used in these studies are compared and discussed. Yamuna has several large and industrial cities on its banks like Yamunanagar, Sonepat, Panipat, Delhi, Agra and Mathura. Besides the municipal sewage, a large number of diverse industries like pulp and paper, sugar, tannery, steel plants, chemicals, rubber, glass, engineering, plastics, and food processing directly discharge their wastes into it. There 22 industrial units in Haryana, 42 units in Delhi and17 units in Uttar Pradesh which were found to be directly discharging and polluting the Yamuna River. Ecological parameters for e.g. dissolved oxygen (DO), (BOD), pH, nitrate (NO32-), sulfate (SO42-), and phosphate (PO43-), are analyzed and compared with standard permissible limits to assess the best-designated use of the river water for various purposes The studies indicate that Yamuna river is getting a load of 296.1 tonnes/day that is several times higher than the assimilative capacity of the river. Tajewala is the benchmark where water quality is generally within the desired level for bathing quality. Average Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels at this point are 1.2 mg/l and 11.7 mg/l respectively. Downstream of Tajewala, domestic and industrial wastewater from urban and rural areas of Yamunanagar-Jagadhri, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar etc. are discharged into the rivers. Yamuna enters Delhi at Palla village 15 km upstream of Wazirabad barrage, which acts as a reservoir for Delhi. Delhi generates 1,900 million litre per day (mld) of sewage, against an installed wastewater treatment capacity of 1,270 mld. Thus, 630 mld of untreated and a significant amount of partially treated sewage enter the river every day. It is obvious from the study that the river water quality is affected by the presence of industries. Its impact can be seen in the region where the industrial discharges are meeting the river. Thus industrial pollution is one of the major causes of river pollution apart from other municipal and agricultural sources.

Key Words: Industrial pollution, Yamuna River, Ecological parameters, water quality

INTRODUCTION: Industrialization is the means for the economical development of a nation. During the production, industries generate useless byproducts and waste materials with 1 to 10% of the quantity of parent chemicals (CPCB, 2004). The effluent discharged from industries contaminates our soil and water resources. River pollution is an environmental problem in third world countries. While developed nations adopt stringent water quality requirements to control river pollution from point and non-point sources, the situation is different in most developing countries. Wastewater treatment is not given the necessary priority it deserves and therefore, industrial waste and domestic sewage are discharged into receiving water bodies without treatment (Dan’azumi et al., 2010). Water quality studies of rivers Ganga (Srivastava et al., 1996), Kali (Bharti and Krishna Murti, 1990), St.Lawerence river (Vis et al., 1998) and river Nile (Wahaab and Badawy, 2004) have also indicated that their water is highly toxic and unsuitable for human consumption and domestic purposes. In India, there are 14 major rivers and most of the developmental activities are still dependent upon rivers for cleaning as well as disposal purposes (Sharma, 2007; Kaushik et al., 2009). River Yamuna is also one of the most polluted rivers of India. It becomes very important to systematically study the status of pollution of the rivers in relation to various anthropogenic activities. The Yamuna River: The River Yamuna is the largest tributary of river Ganga, originates from the Yamunotri glacier, 6387m above mean sea level (msl), at the Banderpoonch peak in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. The catchment of the river extends to states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and the entire union territory of Delhi. Originating from Himalayas its total length is 1,376 km covering a catchment area of 366,220 km2 (Fig. 1). Its source is at Yamunotri, in the

Uttarakhand Himalaya, in the Himalayan Mountains. The main tributaries joining the river include Hindon, Chambal, Sind, Betwa and Ken (Jain et al., 2004). The annual flow of the river is about 10,000 cumecs. The annual usage is 4400 cumecs, irrigation accounting for 96% of this (MoEF, 1994). It is not just like another river but it has a major religious and cultural significance. The river not only provides a livelihood for communities living in the basin but also offers a life support to agricultural, industrial and urban sectors and is the main source of drinking water for most of the towns along its course. More than 70% of drinking water supply of Delhi is abstracted from river Yamuna (CPCB, 1996., Upadhyay et al., 2010). An estimated 57 million people are dependent on the water of the Yamuna River. In view of the rapid growth of urban population, industrialization and inadequate infrastructure, the river water quality across the country has been found to be deteriorating alarmingly. The industrial towns all along the river, discharges significant amounts of wastes into the river. In lower stretch, the Yamuna becomes a drain, receiving mainly agriculture, industrial and domestic effluents (Ali et al., 2001) According to CPCB (2000) there were approximately 359 industrial units out of which 22 industrial units in Haryana, 42 units in Delhi and 17 units in Uttar Pradesh which were found to be directly discharging and polluting the river. These industries include paper, sugar, chemical, leather, distillery, pharmaceuticals, power etc. It has several large and industrial cities on its banks like Yamunanagar, Sonepat, Panipat, Delhi, Agra and Mathura (Fig. 2). The categories of industries discharging wastewater into Yamuna river includes Pulp & paper, Sugar, tannery, steel plants Distilleries, Textiles, Leather, Chemical, Pharmaceuticals, rubber, glass, Oil Refineries, Thermal Power Plants, food etc. (CPCB, 2006). Due to extensive anthropogenic pressure the river Yamuna is rapidly deteriorating into a sewage drain. Delhi alone discharges its treated and untreated domestic and industrial wastes through small or large drains. 95% of the Yamuna pollution at Delhi is resulted due to discharge of wastewaters through seven major drains viz; Najafgarh, Yamunapur, Sen Nursing Home, Barathpula, Maharanibag, Kalkaji and Tuglakabad. In Delhi the Yamuna River is so polluted that beyond Okhala, it hardly supports any form of life. Not only the organic matter and nutrients, but several pesticides and heavy metals have also been found at alarming level in the river (Aggrawal, 1993). Fig. 1. The Yamuna Basin

Fig. 2. Towns on the banks of river Yamuna

(Source: Project Management Consultants for YAP II, 2007)

(Source: CPCB, 2006)

Yamuna River water quality: River Yamuna is the primary source of drinking water for Delhi, the capital of India, and also for many cities, towns and villages in the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Haryana. In the last few decades, however, there has been a serious concern over the deterioration in its water quality. The river has been receiving large amounts of partially treated and untreated wastewater during its course, especially between Wazirabad and Okhla, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. Pollutants flowing into the river are contributed from the waste of the cities situated along its bank. From big industries and factories to people living in big colonies, slums and rural areas, all pollute the river with impurity because of untreated water. On the basis of the different geological and ecological characteristics, the river has been divided into five major segments- viz. Himalayas stretch (172 km), upper stretch (224 km), Delhi stretch (22 km), mixed stretch (490 km) and diluted stretch (468 km) shown in Table 1 (CWC, 2009), of which Delhi is the most polluted stretch of the river, alone is responsible for 79% of entire pollution load in the river Yamuna Fig.3, (CPCB 2006-2007). The Himalayan stretch of the River Yamuna is devoid of any kind of pollution, the water quality here in Tajewala is generally within the desired levels for bathing quality as given by (YAP II; Bhargava, 1983; 1985; 2006) Table-2. Table. 1. Segments of Yamuna River (YAP II) No. I

Reach From origin Barrage

Segment Himalayan

Length 172

II

Tajewala Barrge to Wazirabad (upstream of delhi)

Upper

224

III

Wazirabad to Okhla Barrage (Delhi)

Delhi (highly polluted)

22

IV

Okhla Barrage to confluence with chambal River

Eutrophicated (highly polluted)

490

V

Chambal confluence to confluence with Ganga river at Allahabad

Diluted

468

to

Tajewala

Description Turbulent stream of almost pristine water quality upto Barrage at Tajewala. Canals on both banks withdraw water for various uses. Dry weather flow is comprised of fresh water and wastewater from urban and rural settlements in the catchment. The barrage at Wazirabad stores water for meeting the demand of Delhi No water is released from the Wazirabad Barrage. The DWF is comprised of wastewater orginiating in Delhi. The Barrage at Okhla diverts water through Agra canal to the states of U.P. & Haryana for irrigation No water is released from the Okhla barrage, the DWF is comprised of wastewater from urban and rural settlements. The river gets fresh of life after dilution from the chambal water. Other tributaries coming from Rajasthan and M.P. join in this reach

(Source: YAP II, 2007)

The industrial belt is mainly situated along the north-eastern part of the state along the Yamuna. The wastes from these industries, agricultural runoff and the drains carrying municipal sewage of the cities enter into the river and affect its water quality (Khaiwal, 2003) In order to be compliance with environment laws, it is compulsory for these industries to treat the effluent to achieve prescribed standards before discharging effluent into the environment.

Fig.3. Contribution of pollution load in River Yamuna from different cities

Table. 2. Water Quality in the river (2007) Site Tajewala / Hathnikund Kalanaur Sonipat Palla Nizamuddin Bridge Agra canal Mazawali Mathura u/s Mathura d/s Agra u/s Agra d/s Bateswar Bawah Auriya

State Haryana Haryana Haryana Delhi Delhi Delhi Haryana UP UP UP UP UP UP UP

BOD Level 1 1 1 2 27 10 32 6 6 6 39 7 6 2

Remarks Bathing quality Bathing quality Bathing quality Bathing quality Unfit for any use Unfit for bathing Unfit for any use Unfit for bathing Unfit for bathing Unfit for bathing Unfit for any use Unfit for bathing Unfit for bathing Bathing quality

(Project Management Consultants for YAP II, 2007; u/s: Upstream; d/s: Downstream) The water quality of Indian rivers have been categorized into five classes which are Class A: The river water is fit for drinking after proper disinfection with the addition of chlorine or bleaching powder. Class B: Under this category the River water is fit only for bathing. Class C: The River water is fit for drinking only after proper treatment (screening to remove physical matters or particulate such as paper, plastic, etc. Class D: Under this class the river water is fit only for fish and wildlife and Class E: River water is suitable only for industrial cooling, irrigation. Yamuna River belongs to class E (Hindu, 2002).

SAMPLING STRATEGY: Sampling of different components of the river Yamuna were done from different sites all along the routes of Yamuna in Haryana through Delhi. In most of the studies Grab sampling procedure has been adopted for water analysis (Kaushik, et al., 2009; Khaiwal et al., 2003; Goel et al., 2008; CPCB, 2006) from different sites for physicochemical, bacteriological parameters and metals. Temperature, pH, and conductivity were determined in the field. For other parameters, samples were preserved using appropriate reagents and stored prior to analysis at 4ᵒC. The ‘total metal’ water samples were collected in plastic bottles previously soaked and washed with 10% nitric acid and double distilled water (Ducan and Harrison, 1981; Ali and Jain, 2001). For soil and sediment sampling, gravity steel corer (Kaushik, et al., 2009) and plastic scoop have been used (Jain, 2004). The samples were oven dried ground and stored for further analysis. Most of the studies were based on seasonal sampling

EXTENT OF POLLUTION IN YAMUNA RIVER: The rate of world water pollution has increased in manifold since 1980s (World Bank, 2001). The data reveals that there is a change in emission of organic and industrial water pollutants in countries like USA, China and India from 2,742,993; 3,358,203 and 1,457,474 Kg/day in 1980s’ to 5,339,072; 2,477,830 and 1,441,293 Kg/Day respectively in the year 2001. The situation is more critical in rivers like Yamuna, which has been exposed to anthropogenic pollution for many decades. It has also been reported that eighty percent of the country's urban waste goes directly into rivers like Yamuna, many of which are so polluted they exceed permissible levels for safe bathing (Pepper, 2007). In a study conducted by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB, 2006) found that the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) at various locations in Yamuna (like- Palla, Nizamuddin and Okhla) has been increased four-fold as compared to January 2004. This is about 48 times higher than the maximum permissible level of 3 mg/l for bathing. The BOD level in Yamuna from Yamunotri (origin) to Palla (Place between Sonipat and Nizamuddin Bridge) in Delhi is usually ranges from 1 to 3 mg/L. Up to Palla Yamuna is full of marine life, but beyond that wastewater drains outfall in Yamuna started. From Nizamuddin Bridge to Agra downstream the BOD level ranges from 3 to 51 mg/L. The BOD level was also found above the permissible limits in Mathura, Agra, Etawah and Juhika. (Misra, 2010) In March 2006, BOD levels decreased to 90 mg/l, which is almost, doubles that of March 2004. Average Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels at Tajewala are 1mg/l and 9 mg/l respectively in last 5 years, (fig. 4 and 5) (Upadhyay et al., 2010). Downstream of Tajewala, in stretch-II, domestic and industrial wastewater from urban and rural areas of Yamunnagar-Jagadhri, Karnal , Panipat, Sonepat, Saharnpur, Muzaffarnagar etc. are discharged into the rivers. Average BOD in upper segment is observed to be in the range of 1.0- 2.0 mg/l, (fig. 5). The COD level in Yamuna ranges from 1 to 50 mg/L from its origin to Palla. Beyond Palla Yamuna River starts receiving large amount of wastewaters from different drain within Delhi and many downstream locations. The COD level start increasing from Nizamuddin Bridge and found above the permissible limits (ranges from 3 to 155 mg/L) up to Juhika (CPCB, 2006; Misra, 2010; Upadhyay et al., 2010)

Fig. 4. Concentration of DO at various stretches of River Yamuna

.

Fig. 5. Concentration of BOD at various stretches of River Yamuna

(Source: Upadhyay, 2010)

The Delhi stretch of the river starts at 1.5 km upstream of village Palla and leaves Delhi at Jaitpur (Master Plan for Delhi 2021, 2007), downstream of the Okhla Bridge. Here the BOD and COD values shoot up to 22.8 mg/L and 73.5 mg/L (Year 2004) respectively, and in the year 2005 it decreased upto 18.6 mg/L and 15.6 mg/L respectively (Fig. 5). The DO level diminished beyond the level that sustains life (average 1 to