Detergent in sewage caused toxic foam in Yamuna: DPCC to NGT Panel

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) appointed Yamuna Monitoring Committee (YMC) that sewage containing detergent caused the toxic foam seen in the Yamuna river in the month of July.

The DPCC told the Yamuna Monitoring Committee that presence of the dhobi ghat, direct discharge of sewage that includes phosphate detergents, industrial effluent and turbulence induced near the barrages are responsible for foam in the river.

The YMC, in a letter to the DPCC, has asked to furnish a detailed report within a week. It said in the letter that no comprehensive report has been provided on other quality parameters. The YMC expected a much more detailed analysis; instead, a serious matter had been disposed of with a terse finding that the presence of sodium tripolyphosphate in detergents was responsible for frothing.

Twenty-three drains are connected to the Yamuna in Delhi, all of which carry treated and untreated sewage and industrial effluent.

The YMC said a detailed study linking pollution with waste water quality in various drains and the quality parameters evaluated at various locations would have provided a deeper insight of the main hotspots of pollution along the length of the river, with the aim of focusing attention on the drains, spots and catchments area responsible for the increased pollution.

The DPCC has nine river quality monitoring stations along the length of the Yamuna. The Panel has now directed the DPCC to carry out a comprehensive analysis of river pollution, drains joining the river and quality parameters measured along the length of the river. It also asked DPCC to submit a detailed compliance report by August 10 along with the disciplinary action taken against the defaulting industries, the drain owning agencies and the pollution-causing individuals.