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Out of 80 districts that make up the basin, 29 (including Delhi) were in the category of high and medium water stress in 1947; in the 1990s, the number went up to 62. The number of highly stressed districts went up from 1 in 1947 to 20 in the 1990s.
| | The present irrigation water requirement in the Yamuna basin is 68.18 billion cubic metres whereas the total available surface water in the basin with 75% dependable flows is 62.8 billion cubic metres. And this shortfall will increase in the future. The total utilizable groundwater in the basin is nearly 60 billion cubic metres, 85% of which is allocated for irrigation. With the increasing demands for water, acute shortage of water, including irrigation water, seems inevitable. |  |
The entire stretch of the river from Delhi up to the Chambal confluence is highly polluted. The larger towns/cities in this stretch are Delhi, Mathura, Agra, and Etawah. The pollution is mainly because, most of the waste water of these towns is discharged into the river without treatment and, the flow in the river at theseplaces is too meagre to dilute the pollutant load so as to bring it down to permissible levels. Rising pressures on groundwater due to non-availability of good surface water will worsen the situation. The trends discussed above and the increasing dependence on groundwater for irrigation since 1947 indicate the rising pressures in the basin. The districts are stressed either because of a large fall in the levels of water tables (e.g., Agra) or because of a large rise (e.g., Jind).
| Upstream of Delhi and downstream of the Chambal confluence, the problem of pollution is less severe. At Allahabad, however, the water quality is poor during the non-monsoon period due to untreated wastes discharged into the river from the city.
| Pollution load on water resources is increasing due to the increase in population, industrial activities, and extensive use of pesticides and other chemicals for cultivation. Incidence of water- and sanitation-related diseases continues to be high and awareness of the importance of environmental sanitation is rather poor.
| The river-cleaning programmes, which laid emphasis on such capital work as setting up sewage treatment plants, development of bathing ghats, etc. failed to yield the desired results due to the lack of holistic technical inputs and community involvement. The number of cases of the violation of standards, under the Water Act, is also increasing. Most of the defaulting units are sugar mills, distilleries, and leather-processing units. In addition, the contribution from small-scale industries to the total pollution load is growing at an increasing rate.
| | So far, the approach to dealing with issues related to water pollution has been ad hoc and sectoral. In a country like India, which faces severe resource constraints, a community-based approach appears to be the only viable option for improving water quality and better environmental management. |
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