It is an evolving 360-degree high level campaign of technical experts including government and private organizations, think tanks, experts, international and civil society organizations, aid bodies, research centres, and institutions, aimed at providing solutions to restore, revive and rejuvenate Yamuna. Our larger idea is to facilitate country-wide consultations and explore ways of restoring health and ecosystem of rivers.
River Yamuna broadly suffers from two major but inter-related problems—pollution and insufficient water flow (e-flow). In simple words, quantity and quality of water are both a concern. While the problem of pollution has generated enough attention and some steps, though massively inadequate, have been taken, e-flow has not received adequate or proportionate attention. Many scientists and scholars agree that if the flow of water is increased in the river, its pollution levels will also go down. Occasionally, this is also experienced during the high monsoon times or wherever extra water is released in the river. In the absence of adequate water, even the ground water levels in the areas surrounding the river have been going down progressively. Scientists using data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) have found that the groundwater beneath this region has been receding by as much as one foot per year over the past decade. Agrarian districts are seeing a drop in the water table. With some blocks/areas being declared as a ‘dark zone’, there are restrictions to install new tube well connections. In such a context, northern India, particularly the states of Haryana and Punjab are confronted with the problem of depleting water resource. Numerous studies and reports point towards this alarming situation. They also indicate how difficult water availability situation will be in years to come.
