Unchecked pollution threatens Delhi’s potable water supply, warns environmental activist

By A Representative 

Environmental activist Bhim Singh Rawat, Associate Coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP), has written to several senior officials of the Delhi government and pollution control bodies alerting them to serious water polluting activities along the Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) in Bawana, North West Delhi. The letter, sent on October 25, 2025, is addressed to the Delhi Ministers for Water, Health, and Environment, as well as officials from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Rawat’s letter, accompanied by photographs and GPS coordinates, documents multiple pollution sources along the Munak and Carrier Line Channel (CLC) canals, which carry potable water to the Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant in Shalimar Bagh. He reports that both canals are being contaminated through the disposal of discarded worship materials, dumping and segregation of solid waste, burning of electric wires, and signs of industrial waste disposal. 

“The burning of electric wire is happening right on the edge and slope of the Munak Canal and the residual part, mostly black burnt ash, is finding its way into the canal,” Rawat wrote.

The letter further highlights alarming human and animal activities directly affecting the canal waters. “People in large numbers are taking bath and washing clothes in the canal using soaps and shampoos and disposing all sorts of solid waste including plastic and soiled clothes on the banks,” he said. Open defecation and cattle bathing in the canal were also observed, along with damaged canal plaster that could pose a breach risk. The canals, Rawat noted, are heavily infested with water hyacinth, indicating persistent upstream pollution.

Calling the situation “of utmost public importance,” Rawat warned that the contamination poses grave health risks and could compromise the functioning of the Haiderpur Water Treatment Plant. He urged authorities to take immediate corrective measures, including increased patrolling by civil defence volunteers, installation of CCTV cameras and lighting along canal banks, construction of barricades on bridges, and establishment of waste collection and religious offering disposal centres. He also suggested creating police checkpoints to stop illegal burning of industrial and electrical waste.

“I hope and believe you will understand the gravity of the matter and initiate remedial steps on urgent basis,” Rawat appealed in his communication, emphasizing the need for both urgent and long-term interventions to protect Delhi’s drinking water supply.