Yamuna Cleanup Falls Short Despite ₹2,454 Cr Spent on Delhi Jal Board Project

More than two decades and over ₹2,454 crore later, the Delhi Jal Board’s (DJB) flagship Interceptor Sewage Project (ISP) appears to have delivered far less than expected. A Centre-ordered inspection found that the project stopped only 60% of the sewage volume DJB had claimed it was preventing from entering the Yamuna.

Launched in 2006, the project was designed to intercept smaller drains feeding the Yamuna and divert raw sewage to sewage treatment plants (STPs). However, a series of inspections carried out by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in February 2026 on the orders of the Centre found large-scale discrepancies in DJB’s performance data, reported Hindustan Times (HT).

Citing the DPCC’s report, HT further stated that while DJB claimed to have tapped and diverted 238 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage, only around 142 MGD had been halted by measures introduced under the ISP. The report added that more than 117 MGD of untreated waste is still flowing into the river from drains the board had declared “completed.”

Further, the updated flow of sewage in smaller drains had risen to a total of 260 MGD.

Of the 109 “interceptor points” inspected, sewage was successfully diverted at only 56 points. At the remaining points, about 117.7 MGD of sewage was either not captured or was overflowing. Five points could not be inspected due to heavy waste dumping, missing infrastructure and damage caused by construction, the DPCC report said.

The inspection also found serious lapses in monitoring. DJB had installed flow meters at just 12 points, of which four were already defunct. CCTV cameras were reportedly installed at 23 locations, but only eight were found operational. The board’s claimed sewage pumping capacity of 310.26 MGD was also found to be overstated, with actual capacity pegged at 259.72 MGD.

Persistent Yamuna Pollution

Despite multiple clean-up efforts, the Yamuna river remains one of India’s most polluted rivers, with untreated sewage a major contributor. Reports by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have consistently highlighted gaps in sewage treatment capacity and infrastructure, particularly in Delhi, where several drains still discharge untreated waste into the river.

A 2021 CPCB assessment at Palla found water quality frequently breaching bathing standards, with BOD exceeding limits in all samples, faecal contamination crossing safe levels in over half the observations, and ammonical nitrogen exceeding treatment thresholds in 8 of 13 samples—pointing to persistent untreated sewage inflows.