Study to suggest minimum flow for Yamuna river

New Delhi: A comprehensive study to assess the minimum required environmental flow of the Yamuna river will be undertaken by the government, according to officials.

The decision to undertake the study was taken on the recommendations of a monitoring committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal to look after the cleaning of the river, they said. The members of the National Mission for Clean Ganga — launched by the ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga Rejuvenation in 2014 — are in talks with the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) to carry out the study, the officials said.

The monitoring committee in its action plan submitted in October 2018 had recommended that a study to assess the environmental flow of the Yamuna river for the stretch between Hathanikund and Okhla  must be carried out.

It had said the river is “fighting to stay alive” and it would not be possible to rejuvenate it unless minimum environmental flow is provided as it is “virtually reduced to a trickle and remains dry in some stretches for almost nine months of the year”. In a meeting held between the monitoring community and experts, it was discussed that the environmental flow of 10 cusecs observed to be released at Hathanikund was “completely insufficient” to maintain the uninterrupted flow, officials said.