Page 80 - Sugam Sarita

The categories of industries discharging wastewater into Yamuna river

include Pulp & paper, Sugar, tannery, steel plants, distilleries, Textiles,
Leather, Chemical, Pharmaceuticals, rubber, glass, Oil Refineries,
Thermal Power Plants, food, etc. (CPCB, 2006). Due to extensive
anthropogenic pressure, the river Yamuna is rapidly deteriorating

into a sewage drain. Delhi discharges its treated and untreated
domestic and industrial wastes through small or large drains. 95% of
the Yamuna pollution in Delhi is a result of discharge of wastewater
through seven major drains like; Najafgarh, Yamunapur, Sen Nursing

Home, Barathpula, Maharani Bagh, Kalkaji, and Tuglakabad. In
Delhi, the Yamuna River is so polluted that beyond Okhala, it hardly
supports any form of life. Not only the organic matter and nutrients
but several pesticides and heavy metals have also been found at an

alarming level in the river.

Table No. 4.4 : Quality levels of Yamuna River

India is a blessed country when with 14 major, 55 minor and

numerous small rivers. India is often referred as the “Land of Rivers”.
In fact riverbanks first hosted human civilizations in India as elsewhere
in the world. Rivers in India play important social and economic
roles. This is the reason why Indians worship rivers as goddesses. Our
mythological stories are full of stories glorifying the rivers.

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