Yamuna: By Brij Gopal and Manoj Misra at Living rivers, dying rivers series-Part V
Channel: IndiaWater Portal
Date: 2013-01-24

The second lecture in the series titled "Living rivers, dying rivers" was delivered on the subject of Yamuna river by Prof. Brij Gopal, Former Prof. of JNU and Manoj Misra, PEACE Institute and Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan. The lecture held on July 11, 2011 at the India International Centre, New Delhi highlighted the complex challenges faced by the river which on the one hand is worshipped as a divinity and on the other hand abused. The series coordinated by Prof. Ramaswamy R Iyer aimed at understanding what has been happening to rivers across India and in drawing appropriate lessons. 
Prof Brij Gopal began his presentation with defining rivers as unique and fascinating systems that transform large landscape displaying their diverse forms. Discussing river values and attributes, Brij Gopal said that all values of the rivers are derived from the interaction between their five main components. In floodplains, rivers lateral interactions become more important than the longitudinal changes. Yamuna and Ganga are alluvial rivers carrying a lot of sediments that have specific characteristics. All alluvial rivers have especially complex channel morphology. A river starts dying when any of the five components are affected - physical structure, floodplain, biota, water quality and water quantity. Brij Gopal suggested restoration of habitats, flow regimes, riparian floodplain areas, catchments and prevention of pollution to revive the river. 
Manoj Misra noted that though millions have depended on Yamuna since eternity and still do, the river right now is nothing more than a sewage drain. He noted that lack of dilution capacity is a problem and therefore minimum ecological flow is the utmost necessity. Manoj Misra made some suggestions regarding the amount of diversion of water from a river. River must flow free of all barrages (3-4 days) per month during lean season between January to June. For securing the flood plains, he stated that the River Regulation Zone (RRZ) notification that declares 100 year return floodplains as 'eco-sensitive zone' and prohibits raising of any structure of commercial, residential and industrial nature should be put into practice. There is a need for a national river policy independent of national water policy, he said. 
A blog on the lecture is available at India Water Portal here - http://www.indiawaterportal.org/post/36406