An
expert committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal to assess the
pollution load of drains prior to joining Yamuna has observed that all the drains
have “bacteriological contamination”.The committee, which also inspected the
performance of the sewage treatment plants (STPs), has questioned the Delhi Jal
Board’s plan to clean up Yamuna by building 14 new sewage treatment plants, and
called for the optimum utilisation of the existing ones instead.In its
findings, the committee has observed that value of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)
“does not meet the standard limit” of 250 milligram per litre in 7 drains —
ISBT drain, Tonga stand, Kailash Nagar, Delhi gate drain, Sen Nursing Home,
Jaitpur drain and Tughlakabad drain. A COD test is commonly used to indirectly
measure the amount of organic compounds in water.