22 online stns to check Yamuna’s health

New Delhi: Delhi Pollution Control Committee has floated a tender for installation and commissioning of 22 monitoring stations in the Yamuna to collect real-time data on water quality. Currently, water samples are collected manually and analysed only once in a month. These monitoring stations are likely to become operational by the end of this year, an official said.
The board of DPCC, which met on Dec 14, had passed the proposal of installation of online monitoring stations.“A tender has been floated to hire an agency for installation, operation and maintenance of these monitoring stations for five years. These stations will be installed at 22 locations in Yamuna stretch in the city. Apart from real-time data, the manual analysis of water quality will be continued as it is necessary for calibration,” said a DPCC official.
In Delhi, a 22-km urban stretch of the Yamuna from Wazirabad to Okhla is the most polluted and contributes to around 75% of the total pollution. However, the monitoring stations will help in determining the quality of water at a given time.
At present, the water samples are manually collected every month from eight locations—Palla, Wazirabad, ISBT Bridge, ITO Bridge, Nizamuddin Bridge, Okhla Barrage, Agra Canal and Asgarpur —for pH, chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen and fecal coliform. DPCC also analyses phosphate and surfactant levels, which cause froth.
Apart from these parameters, the stations will help in analysing other essential factors, including measurement of flow, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and ammonia. “On the basis of real-time data, we will be able to identify the stretches and factors causing pollution in the river. This will help in taking immediate corrective action,” said an official.
Though there was an initial plan of installing stations at 53 sites, the number was reduced later. “The pollution in the Yamuna is well known and the water in the river is kind of sewage...One mobile laboratory may also be procured for monitoring of the river at various locations and also for collection and analysis of samples. Manual monitoring may continue as is now being done,” said the board, according to the minutes of the meeting.