Yamuna River shows modest drop in faecal coliform levels in Delhi

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee’s July monitoring report recorded a slight decline in faecal coliform counts at four of seven sampling sites along the Yamuna River. At Palla the count fell from 2,800 to 2,100 MPN/100 ml, at Wazirabad from 4,300 to 3,500, at ITO Bridge from 140,000 to 120,000, and at Asgarpur from 390,000 to 320,000. Despite these improvements, all sites except Palla remained far above the desirable limit of 500 MPN/100 ml and the permissible limit of 2,500 MPN/100 ml. Biological Oxygen Demand values stayed high, ranging around 2 mg/L, indicating persistent organic pollution.

At the same time, the river’s water level at the Old Railway Bridge in New Delhi dipped to 203.37 m, just below the city’s warning mark of 204.50 m. Officials said there is no flood forecast and water releases from the Hathnikund Barrage are currently about 15,000 cusecs, down from a peak of 69,000 cusecs earlier in the week. The slight drop eases immediate flood concerns but the river remains close to critical thresholds.