AAP blames neighbouring states for Yamuna foam

With the politics over polluted Yamuna and river’s Kalindi Kunj stretch being covered with layers of froth intensifying on Sunday, Delhi Jal Board started sprinkling silicon-based defoaming agents, even as Delhi chief minister Atishi pointed fingers at neighbouring states for causing pollution in the river by releasing untreated waste.
“Our motto is to find solutions. We will be using food grade silicon based defoamers. From today, DJB will initiate a drive on the affected river stretch under which defoaming will be carried out. They may try to stop our works but we will keep working on solutions… We don’t want to make allegations but Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are adding untreated effluents to Yamuna. Around Chhath, the gates of Agra canal area closed, which leads to untreated waste reaching Yamuna.”
Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that AAP leaders, “having been inactive for 10 years” were now panicking ahead of the elections. “AAP leaders should specify which geography class they attended to suggest that Haryana and Uttar Pradesh’s industrial waste is polluting the Yamuna in Delhi,” he said.
“Clean Yamuna water enters Delhi through Haryana’s Palla village and exits through Uttar Pradesh at the southern edge, where it becomes polluted. These are baseless claims about industrial waste from these states polluting this river section,” Sachdeva said.
In a press conference later in the day, accompanied by former minister Satyendar Jain, Atishi blamed the BJP for rising air and water pollution in Delhi, alleging Haryana was releasing 165 million gallons a day (mgd) of untreated polluted water from Badshahpur, Mungeshpur and DD-6 drains, and causing froth formation.
“Secondly, UP is releasing 55mgd polluted water from Sahibabad drain. Around festival season, the gates of Kalindi Kunj barrage are mostly closed and polluted water is released into Yamuna,” she said.
Jain said AAP leaders were jailed to stop multiple works that included the Yamuna clean-up. “We started work on war footing to clean Yamuna but when BJP started to feel that our government will clean Yamuna, they first arrested me and then Arvind Kejriwal. The biggest reason is industrial waste from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The gates of the barrage are also managed by UP. Instead of two to three gates, all 12 gates should be opened,” Jain said.
BJP MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat said, “If Delhi’s pollution is rising due to BJP’s politics, then Atishi ji, you know a lot about doing politics, you should have brought pollution down…Only foam is visible in Yamuna. Water is nowhere to be seen… The joy of upcoming festivals is brought down by pollution. So Delhi CM should not blame others for her own failures.”
The blame game over foam formation around this time of the year has become an annual feature. Last year, the water utility deployed 10 boats for the defoaming exercise around Kalindi Kunj and Okhla barrage ahead of the Chhath festival. DJB also monitors the water parameters during this period.
Chhath is celebrated between November 5 and 8 and it involves fasting devotees offering prayers to the Sun, in knee-deep water. Scenes of Chhath devotees standing waist-deep in polluted froth near Kalindi Kunj cause public outrage every year.
Science behind the froth
A senior DJB official said froth bubbles are caused due to soap-like surfactant molecules and when water falls from a height in the Okhla barrage, it leads to the churning of polluted water, as well as increased frothing.
“There are biological and chemical causes behind the presence of surfactant molecules. It can be due to detergents and surfactants in untreated domestic sewage, pollutants from industries, as well as materials released by decomposition of dying water hyacinth weeds in the Okhla barrage,” the official, requesting anonymity, said.
Similar problems of toxic froth floating on lakes have been observed in the past in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The froth indicates zero dissolved oxygen levels and high surfactant pollutant load in the river stretch along Okhla barrage, the official said.
Another DJB official said a silicon dioxide-based agent with poly-oxypropylene group, which is food grade and not harmful to skin, is used as a defoaming agent. “Silicon dioxide is derived from silica or sand. It is used in shampoos, conditioners and even some medicines. The solution is being used with 100 times dilution and there is visible improvement in water quality,” the official said.
The defoaming drive was started two years ago, on October 21, 2022.
Bhim Singh Rawat, a Yamuna activist and member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) said that all three states share responsibility for polluting the river. “The extreme levels of frothing clearly indicates that the ecological health of the river is very bad and it has no dissolved oxygen. In long term, sprinkling defoaming agents is not a solution. One measure could be release of more water from Hathnikund barrage to flush the river and ensure ecological flow. Right now, only 3000-10,000 cusecs of flow is being noticed.”