Jairam wades into river issue (Times of India 22 February 2011)

NEW DELHI: Minister of environment and forests Jairam Ramesh is expected to write to the chief ministers of Delhi and Haryana, asking them to take immediate action against those found polluting the Yamuna. The minister had earlier written to Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in December last year, threatening action against "persistent polluters" after two water treatment plants in Delhi had to be shut down due to excess ammonia in raw water.
The minister had intervened between the two states recently as well when Delhi had to shut down its plants once again on February 14 after level of ammonia and chloride went up in the raw water. The states started a blame game, accusing each of being the 'bigger polluter'. Ramesh had said he would meet representatives of the two states towards the ends of the month and sort out the issue.
His letter to the Haryana CM, dated December 29, said that "untreated industrial and domestic effluent from Panipat, Samalkha and Sonipat (was being) discharged into the Yamuna. I would request you to take necessary action to ensure that the Haryana State Pollution Control Board not only monitor water quality and sewage treatment but also take stiff action against polluters". The letter said if the situation did not change, the minister would take action under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act against the defaulters. This time, Delhi government has also come under the spotlight for failing to curb pollution in the river. According to Central Pollution Control Board, the city generates 630 million litres per day of sewage against an installed treatment capacity of 512mld. Even after this, only 380mld of sewage gets treated. CPCB data identified that level of pollutants go up significantly in the Delhi stretch of the river as the city deposits all its waste into the river that has no fresh water for most part of the year.
Delhi officials said Haryana was supposed to provide optimum quality water at Wazirabad since all of it was meant for Delhi's drinking purpose. The capital, meanwhile, was supposed to provide only irrigation quality water downstream of Okhla.