Waste water

“The entire effort goes to waste as the treated water when it mixes with polluted river water would become polluted again. Instead they could directly send the water from the sewage treatment plant to the water treatment plant ,” said Singh said.

Releasing water from a sewage plant into the river is a bad idea, said an activist.

Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan said: “The Jal Board should first ensure that all its sewage treatment plants s are functioning at their optimum capacity. They must use that treated water for meeting the non-drinking water needs of the city. The National Green Tribunal permitted DJB to release not more than 3% of treated sewage water into the river. For rejuvenation the river will need its own environmental flow and not water from a sewage treatment plant.”

The proposal came up in a meeting held by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal with senior DJB officials. Kejriwal doubles up as the DJB’S chairman.

At present, water from sewage treatment plants are just used to water parks and gardens.

Delhi is also hoping to improve water supply in the city by getting more from Uttar Pradesh

“Negotiations are on with the Uttar Pradesh government to procure around 150 MGD of water. There is a proposal to install a pipeline for this. This raw water would be treated at an upcoming water treatment plant in Sonia Vihar Phase-ii. We are planning yet another plant at Dwarka Phase - II,” Mohaniya added.

DJB officials hope t hat this extra water from Uttar Pradesh will help reduce the capital’s dependency on Haryana with which it has been engaged in a legal tussle over water sharing.