Apex court slams DJB for dirty Yamuna, ropes in experts
   
  New Delhi, December 19 (IANS): The Supreme Court Tuesday roped in experts from the Indian Institutes of Technology at Delhi and Roorkee to draw up plans for cleaning the polluted Yamuna river and slammed the Delhi Jal Board for its “pathetic” work.
  Addressing the directors of the two institutes, an apex court bench of Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice Madan B. Lokur said that “cleaning the Yamuna is not possible unless discharge of effluents is stopped” and asked them to “tell how to clean the Yamuna”. “We are not here to blame anybody. (The) only sad thing is that it (matter concerning the cleaning of the Yamuna) is pending since 1994 and things have gone worse by the day,” the apex court said. Justice Lokur said the Yamuna could not be cleaned unless there was a “greater flow of water”. Perusing an affidavit filed by the Delhi Jal Board, the court said: “What the DJB has done in the past is pathetic…”
  The court set up a committee headed by the environment and forests secretary to suggest plans for “controlling and preventing” pollution and cleaning the river.The court earlier observed that the Yamuna in Delhi was a drain and even after spending Rs.12,000 crore on its cleaning, its condition had become worse. The committee includes directors of Delhi and Roorkee IITs, Haryana chief secretary, officials of Delhi civic agencies and Noida authority, and representative of the Delhi Lt. governor. The committee will meet Jan 12, 2013. The court would next hear the case February  8, 2013

Satayme Jayate episode on water pollution ....."a must watch!!"

http://youtu.be/hq_pVKZUPVk

CARRY ME RIVER

carry me (a river) carry me (a river) carry me a river take i there,
 by the river let the cool breeze wash away the pain from within me not in vain
 carry me a river where the sweet melodies of the birds reign
 the birds in a singing mood so plain wipe off my mind from the railing train and
carry me over yonder to clear my brain as you carry me a river
 carry me a river by the river side
 the pebbles and the bubbles clear as water by the stream
 as you carry me
 a river told me the best poor surrogate of wisdom is pride
 but intelligence and self trust will avoid troubles not even in your dream
 carry me a river in touch with i roots in my gideon boots and some khaki suites
 carry me a river to dream a better me
 and look back to see the horizon by sundown lost
but not a clown with my thinking crown i stood up to go back-a town
 next time carry me a river on time though you carry me there for some time
but next time carry me a river on time

By June this year, the extended period of Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) II, a whopping Rs. 1,000 crore would have been spent under phase I and II of the YAP since its beginning in 1994. Another Rs. 1,600 crore is earmarked for YAP III as part of grants received from the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Rs. 1,400 crore is to be pumped through JNNURM. But all this has failed to make Yamuna pollution-free in the national Capital. "From bad to worst" is how Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan describes the condition over the years of the action plan. With nothing much achieved by earlier plans, Mishra said he has "no hopes at all" from YAP III. "In absence of any overarching agency to monitor and control multiple agencies in the city, how can a project that states 'if this and this does so, then this and this will happen' work?" he asked and added, "The key issue of more water release upstream of Delhi has always been skirted." Ramesh Negi, CEO of Delhi Jal Board, claimed the exact opposite. "From 45% to 65%, the sewerage coverage has actually gone up during the last decade. And now we are working on interceptor sewer," he said. YAP I saw community toilets by the MCD, II saw capacity addition for sewage treatment and in III the DJB expects to take sewage treatment capacity to 700 MGD. Plus, a Sewerage Master Plan 2031 is taking shape. "In 5-6 years, the biological oxygen demand level will come down to 12 as against the current 30-40," he said.

Imagine a 24-feet installation cleaning the filthy waters of the Yamuna. A Delhi-based artist, Gigi Scaria has created a Leaning Tower of Pisa-like structure by the river to purify its waters and serve as a fountain. Made out of aluminum and supported by a 10-feet iron rod, the installation, titled The Fountain of Purification, is part of the Yamuna-Elbe: Public.Art.Outreach project at the Golden Jubilee Park near the Old Yamuna Bridge. Launched on Wednesday, the project, centred on the idea of creating ecologically sustainable rivers, displays functional artworks by Indian and German artists. Scaria’s artwork has four floors. There’s a big tank embedded at the water front that collects the water from the river. “The tank has three layers of filtration. That’s the main purification part,” he explains. Once the water gets cleansed through the tank, it revolves inside the installation and splashes up at height of 50 feet. “The splashing is also symbolic of what Hindus do during pujas for purification of the soul,” says Scaria, who built the structure in a month. The project has been co-curated by Ravi Agarwal, an Indian artist-environmentalist from Delhi, and Till Krause, a well-known land artist from Hamburg. While Scaria’s installation addresses the Yamuna, Krause takes up the cause for the Elbe river in Hamburg.

Tips on cleaning the river

Some useful tips to help clean the river Bar people from disposing of religious ornamentations like flower garlands in the river. Chemically painted statues must no more be immersed in this river and so is the case with industrial affluent and chemical wastes. Prevent washer men from using river ghats. Prevent people from defecating in the open along the river banks. Creation of Havan Kund for disposal of the religious material, by employing vehicles for collecting material from each temple. Special Pooja Material collection vehicles may be deployed as per a systematic plan. as per Hindu religious faith. Put up nets in the river to catch the waste if any.