New Delhi, June 2 (PTI) Pictures and videos of toxic froth floating in the Yamuna in Delhi made their way back on social media on Thursday, with experts citing untreated sewage and detergents as the major reason behind the pollution.
The primary reason behind the formation of the toxic foam is high phosphate content in the wastewater because of detergents used in dyeing industries, dhobi ghats and households in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, they said.
Devotees standing knee-deep in the toxic foam-laden river during Chhath puja celebrations in November last year had attracted global attention.
The Delhi government had faced flak for deploying boats in the polluted river to remove toxic froth at Kalindi Kunj banks. Authorities had even erected bamboo structures and sprayed water from tankers to dissipate the foam.
Officials on Thursday said the problem of frothing will continue unless sewage treatment plants and common effluent treatment plants in Delhi are upgraded to meet the new standards and all unauthorised colonies are connected to the sewer network.
Wastewater from authorised colonies and settlements containing high phosphate content reach the river through untapped drains. When water falls from a height at a barrage, the turbulence agitates the phosphoric compounds in the river which leads to the formation of froth, they said.
Frothing in certain stretches of the river, such as near ITO and Okhla Barrage, has become an annual phenomenon in winters when the temperatures are low and flow in the river is less.
The 22-kilometre stretch of the Yamuna between Wazirabad and Okhla, which is less than two percent of its total length of 1,370 kilometres from Yamunotri to Allahabad, accounts for around 80 percent of the pollution load in the river.
The Delhi government had in June last year banned the sale, storage, transportation, and marketing of soaps and detergents not conforming to the latest BIS standards to curb the pollution in the river. PTI GVS TDS TDS
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