Today River Yamuna faces many challenges including those which impacts its ecological health. Diversion of water for agriculture, deforestation along the river, agricultural run-off and population explosion in urban settlements along the river keeping the STPs under pressure are some of the challenges it faces today. Further to this, the 1994 water sharing agreement which left just 3% of water for the Yamuna River from the Hathnikund barrage, has been just inadequate to meet the e-flow required downstream. (Yamuna needs more water to be released from Hathnikund, Indian Express, 29 January 2021). This session will invite suggestions and explore possible solutions including collaborative approaches for restoring the environmental flow (e-flow) of River Yamuna, which a small part of its earlier flow to even start healing.

One of the many challenges faced by river Yamuna is agricultural run-off. Agricultural runoff is known to contribute to water pollution in rivers through various mechanisms.

Agricultural practices often involve the use of fertilizers, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to enhance crop growth. When it rains, these excess nutrients can be washed off the fields and enter nearby water bodies, including rivers, through runoff. Elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water can cause eutrophication, leading to algal blooms and oxygen depletion in the river(a common sight near Kalindi Kunj barrage), harming aquatic ecosystems. (Excessive fertiliser use is poisoning Yamuna river: CPCB, Hindustan Times, 29 Aug’19). This session will have speakers talk about the possible ways to manage the agricultural runoff in river basin.

The success of the restoration and rejuvenation efforts requires a collaboration among various stakeholders, including government agencies, researchers and scientific community, NGOs and private entities, along with active involvement of the local communities. But, its also worthwhile to scan the horizons of technology to explore possible solutions to keep the River Yamuna clean.

On the tech front, Yamuna Manthan would explore the use of hydrogen fuel cell powered  autonomous boats- hBOT. These hBOTs can autonomously move/sail in designated area of River Yamuna and clean on continuous basis- 24/7. This hBOT can autonomously sail from its parking bay in the evening and keep cleaning the river through the evening/night. In the daytime, it will be come back to its parking bay. These hBOT will have memory and intelligence of what area it covered in previous days/weeks and works in sync with co-hBOT, not to overlap  each others region. hBOTS will be connected to the outside world and controlled by secured command centre. The hBOT will can use various types of optic, LiDAR, radar, sonar sensors for detecting the floating objects and also identifying the waste which has reached the bottom surface of the river. It will be required to clean the surface of the river and its river bed clean.