The Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) is a bilateral project between the Government of India and Japan. It is one of the largest river restoration projects in India. The government of Japan, via the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), has provided financial aid of 17.7 billion yen to carry out the project, which is being executed by the National River Conservation Directorate, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the Government of India.
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Originating from the Yamunotri glacier in the lower Himalayas, the Yamuna is one of the largest tributaries of the Ganges river network. The river travels a total of 1376 kilometers crossing several northern states in India including Uttrakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and later Delhi, the capital of the country. In Hindu mythology, the Yamuna is considered the daughter of Sun God, Surya, and sister of Yama, the God of Death, hence also known as Yami. According to popular legends, bathing in its sacred waters frees one from the torments of death.
With an annual flow of about 10,000 cubic meters and usage of 4,400 cubic meters (of which irrigation constitutes 96 per cent), the river accounts for more than 70 per cent of Delhi’s water supplies. The water of Yamuna is of "reasonably good quality" through its length from Yamunotri in the Himalayas to Wazirabad in Delhi, about 375 km, where the discharge of waste water through 15 drains between Wazirabad barrage and Okhla barrage renders the river severely polluted after Wazirabad in Delhi. The media generally describes the river as “dead” and "sewage drain" with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) values ranging from 14 to 28 mg/l and high coliform content.
There are three main sources of pollution in the river, namely households and municipal disposal sites, soil erosion resulting from deforestation occurring to make way for agriculture along with resulting chemical wash-off from fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides and run-off from commercial activity and industrial sites.
The first phase of the Yamuna Action Plan was formulated on the basis of a study conducted by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and covered Delhi, eight towns of Uttar Pradesh, and six towns of Haryana. Launched in 1993, the project was originally planned to be completed by April 2000, but was later extended until February 2003.
The National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), GOI were the executing agencies for the YAP project with the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam (UPJN) in UP, the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) in Haryana, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in Delhi, being the chief Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs).
The components of infrastructure involved construction of Drain Interceptors, Diversion Sewer Lines, Sewage Pumping Stations (PS), and Sewage Treatment Plants (STP). 32 STPs were constructed and a total sewage treatment capacity of about 735 MLD was created.
During the extended phase of YAP-I, more emphasis was given to address various non-sewerage issues. The strategy for these was formulated under the Special Assistance for Project Implementation (SAPI) study conducted by JBIC. The Yamuna Action Plan–I, under the aegis of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, did not lay much stress on public awareness and participation, prevented it from becoming a people's campaign. However, a public participation & awareness (PP&A) programme was launched to generate awareness among the beneficiaries in the project area.
The Yamuna Action Plan was unable to address the issue of the Yamuna cleanliness fully, particularly in the 22 km Delhi stretch. A few new towns in Uttar Pradesh were identified that were adding to the pollution in the river. This led to the development of YAP–II.
Under the Yamuna Action Plan II, the most critical stretches of Yamuna have been taken in to consideration, especially the Delhi stretch, where the city dumps more than 58% of the total sewage it generates.