River Pollution: Yamuna River

Main Sources of Pollution

Domestic Sources
The wastewater mainly comes from household activities hence the presence of high content of detergent, laundry chemicals, and phosphate compounds.
Industrial heavy metal contamination
Among the heavy metals investigated in the River Yamuna water, Iron (Fe) was found to be most abundant and even exceeding the limit. High amounts of heavy metals in water can cause several health effects such as reduced growth and development, cancer, organ damage, nervous system damage, etc.
Untreated Sewage
More than 800 million litres of largely untreated sewage is pumped in the Yamuna each day. Another 44 million litres of industrial effluents are also discharged daily into the river. Sewage that is treated before being released into the river accounts for only 35% of the total estimated sewage discharge.
Plastic Pollution
According to records, Delhi produces 2,51,674 tonnes of plastic each year — 50% of which is single-use. That’s roughly 63,000 elephants worth of plastic.