Reduce water demand & wastage to revive river (Times of India 21 March 2010)

What should and can be done to clean the Yamuna? What is the strategy for business-unusual so that we can spend more money but this time get returns of a living and breathing river.
One, we need to change the art of pollution control. First, we must understand that rivers need water to assimilate our waste. Today, Delhi takes water from the river, upstream of Wazirabad, and returns only sewage to it. Between the two barrages — Wazirabad, when the river enters Delhi till Okhla, where it exits Delhi — there is no water. There are only some 17 drains that bring sewage into the river.
Even if we were to treat every drop of waste before it reaches the river, it will do nothing. The river must have water to dilute waste. And to live.
There are two ways for Delhi to get water in the river. One, it can demand that Haryana should give it more water. But this will be difficult. All cities, up or downstream, do what Delhi does. They take every drop of water the river has and give it only their waste. All cities are desperate for water.
The second option is that Delhi can begin to reduce its own water demand, so that it can allow water to flow in the river. This can be done. Delhi, today has the highest water availability in the country — already over 250 litres per person per day. The richest cities of the world, like those in Denmark, have roughly 110 litres per person per day.
Delhi needs so much water because it wastes half the water in distribution. This must be stopped or at least minimized. But importantly, money for river cleaning must incorporate this target — how much will Delhi do to reduce water use. Water is part of the sums of waste.
This also means we have to use less water in our homes, so that we discharge less waste. We have to be part of the solution to the river. Remember our flush is enjoined to the Yamuna.
Then we must change the science of river cleaning. We know the river will not be clean till we treat all the sewage of the city. And the only way we can treat the sewage is by making solutions more affordable. In the current situation, Delhi government does not even recover the cost of water supply, forget sewage disposal. We must demand technologies that we all can pay for. This will drive the change in approach.
The second agenda is to fully utilize the capacity of our sewage treatment plants. Delhi has capacity to clean 2330 million litres of sewage each day —enough to treat 70-90% of current waste, depending on the estimate you take. This will mean bringing waste to the plants, by lifting it from open drains, not just waiting to build new ones or building and repairing more drains. The hardware approach needs to go.
The third agenda is connected and critical. The treated effluent must not be put back into the same open drain, which carries the untreated waste of the majority. It must be reused and recycled, as far as possible locally so that costs of pumping are reduced.
Today, we spend huge money in first pumping sewage long distances for treatment and then waste this effort by dumping the cleaned water in unclean drains. In other words, sewage must be reused in gardens, in lakes or in industry. Sewage treatment plants must be built only when they have planned for reuse.
Just consider. Today, sewage is treated at the Yamuna Vihar plant in east Delhi and disposed of in the drain carrying untreated waste outside the plant. Then the same waste is treated further down in the Kondli treatment plant. Cleaned effluent is then dumped in a drain, which flows past the new growth colonies of Noida with huge discharge. By the time it reaches the river, there is sewage, no water. Get serious, for heaven’s sake.
Fourth, we must treat sewage directly in the open drains that criss-cross the city. Instead of waiting for every open stormwater drain to go underground and disappear, the system will ensure all waste is treated and cleaned as it flows through the city. This would mean using innovative technologies for bio-remediation green plants and oxidation to decompose and degrade sewage. Get real.
Fifth, we should build sewage treatment plants as close to the bank of the river to treat what remains in the drains. This will need technologies, which need less land to treat sewage. The design is not to discharge anything but treated effluent in Yamuna.
All this will require our involvement. We must demand an effective action plan for cleaning our river. Never forget, we all live downstream.
Agenda For Clean-Up
The river must have water to dilute waste
Delhi can demand water from Haryana, reduce its own water demand (availability 250 litres per person daily, highest in country)
Delhi must stop/ minimize wasting half its water in distribution
Delhiites must use less water at home, so that they discharge less waste
Change science of river cleaning by making solutions more affordable. Must demand technologies that we all can pay for Fully utilize capacity of sewage treatment plants. Need to lift sewage from open drains instead of building more infrastructure
Treated effluents must not be put back into open drain which carries untreated waste of majority. It must be reused and recycled as far as possible locally
Treat sewage directly in open drains with innovative technologies
Should build sewage treatment plants close to the bank of the river to treat what remains in the drains