Rise in Ammonia Level in Yamuna

In News

• Water production was hit due to heavy sewage and industrial discharge from Haryana.

Issue

• Recently, ammonia levels shot up to 3 ppm (parts per million), forcing water treatment plants to reduce operating capacity by 50%.
• The acceptable maximum limit of ammonia in drinking water is 0.5 ppm, as per the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

Causes of Pollution

• Mixing of drains:
  • Mixing of two drains carrying drinking water and sewage or industrial waste, or both.
• Industrial Pollution:
  • The Yamuna flows into Delhi from Haryana and the state has industrial units on the banks of Yamuna.
  • Ammonia is used as an industrial chemical in the production of fertilisers, plastics and dyes.
• Natural sources of ammonia: 
  • Decomposition or breakdown of organic waste matter, gas exchange with the atmosphere, forest fires, and nitrogen fixation processes.

Effects of Rising Ammonia

• Biochemical oxygen Demand:
  • Ammonia reduces the amount of oxygen in the water as it is transformed into oxidised forms of nitrogen. 
  • Hence, it also increases Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).
    • Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) represents the amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms while they decompose organic matter under aerobic (oxygen is present) conditions at a specified temperature.
• Biomagnification and Bioaccumulation
  • If the concentration of ammonia in water is above 1 ppm, it is toxic to fish.
  • In humans, long term ingestion of water having ammonia levels of 1 ppm or above may cause damage to internal organs.

Steps taken earlier

• Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti v. Union of India case
  • SC directed that the purpose of setting up Common Effluent Treatment Plant and Sewage Treatment Plants plants.
    • The state government will prioritise such cities, towns and villages, which discharge industrial pollutants and sewer directly in rivers and water bodies.

• Constitutional Provisions
  • Article 243W of the Constitution vests municipalities and local authorities with the performance of functions and implementation of schemes 
    • as may be entrusted to them, including those in relation to the matters listed in item 6 of the 12th schedule.
    • Item 6 of the Schedule includes “public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management”.
  • Article 21
    • The right to clean the environment, and further, pollution-free water, have been protected under the broad rubric of the right to life.

Way Ahead

• Ozone-based treatment units 
  • It can treat ammonia levels up to 4 ppm 
  • The DJB at present does not have any specific technology to treat ammonia.
• Reduce pollution at source
  • The only long term solution is to have proper sewage treatment plants at the source itself.
  • Mixing of drains should also be checked.
• Proper infrastructure
  • The laying of a conduit pipeline to separate drain carrying potable water and sewage water.
  • The National Green Tribunal-appointed Yamuna Monitoring Committee also suggested fast-track approvals to build a conduit.
• Ecological Flow 
  • This is the minimum amount of water that should flow in the river at all times.
    • Maintaining a sustainable minimum flow would sustain underwater and estuarine ecosystems and human livelihoods.
  • The Yamuna Monitoring Committee recommended to the Ministry of Jal Shakti to rework the 1994 water-sharing pact 
    • A pact between Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and UP to revive the river by releasing more freshwater into it.

Source: TH