Human waste contamination in Yamuna declined by 90%: Parvesh

With just two days left for Chhath Puja and the administration gearing up to welcome thousands of devotees on the banks of the Yamuna river for rituals and holy dip, Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh on Saturday said the Delhi government’s efforts to clean the river in the past seven months paid off as the faecal coliform or human waste contamination levels dropped drastically compared with last year.

“According to the latest report by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), there has been 90% reduction in faecal coliform levels in the Yamuna compared with 2024. Four of the eight sampling points are now within or very close to the permissible limit of 2,500 MPN/100 ml – a milestone never achieved before in such a short time,” Mr. Singh said.

MPN (most probable number) is a unit used in microbiology to estimate the number of bacteria in a water sample.

Faecal coliform levels

According to the DPCC data shared by Mr. Singh, the faecal coliform level at Palla was 920 MPN on October 8 last year and decreased to 600 MPN on October 20 this year.

The MPN level at ISBT Bridge dropped from 28,000 to 8,000; at ITO Bridge, it reduced from 35,000 to 7,000. At Okhla Barrage, the MPN level declined from 18,00,000 to 2,700, while at Nizamuddin Bridge, it dipped from 11,00,000 to 7,900.

Unlike previous years, the Yamuna this October witnessed a sharp rise in water level. The water released to Delhi from Haryana increased sharply, while water released to irrigation canals in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana dropped to nil, according to the data.

“While the previous [Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)] government spent 10 years making announcements, we have delivered visible outcomes within seven months. We promised to clean the Yamuna within three years,” said Mr. Singh at a press conference.

Mr. Singh was responding to AAP Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj, who warned people not to believe the government’s assertions that the Yamuna is “clean”. “Millions of people will be victims of the lies and deceit of BJP leaders and will fall sick,” the AAP leader said, adding that taking a dip in the river could make them “ill”.

During the day, Mr. Bharadwaj led a march to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s office in Civil Lines with a bottle “filled with Yamuna water” and challenged her to drink it.

‘Took measures’

The BJP said AAP did not release faecal coliform level data last year and that the current government has not only released the data but also taken decisive and science-based measures “to prevent untreated sewage” from flowing into the river.

In the run-up to Chhath Puja, celebrated by Purvanchalis (residents of Delhi hailing from Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand), the BJP and AAP remain at odds over the quality of water in the Yamuna. Cleaning the river was among the BJP’s promises ahead of the Assembly poll this year.