THE YAMUNA RIVER PROJECT
THE NAJAFGARH DRAIN Iñaki Alday
Pankaj Vir Gupta
The Yamuna River Project: The Najafgarh Drain
An Essential Future
..... 06
Delhi and the Yamuna The Goddess Yamuna The Water Governance Delhi’s Growth
..... 08
Delhi’s Waters The Interrupted Yamuna Sewage Infrastructure Waste and Groundwater The City of Drains
..... 16
The Najafgarh River Restoration Delhi’s Green Infrastructure Vision Najafgarh River Strategic Plan
..... 32
The Najafgarh Strategies Water Cleansing Public Spaces Neighborhood Connections Sub-drains Rejuvenation Civic Amenities Decentralized Infrastructures
..... 42
The Delhi Jal Board
Image by Randhir Singh
05
Foreword Keshav Chandra
CEO Delhi Jal Board
Rivers don’t die quickly. A stream of water that nurtures civilizations loses its life only because civilizations fail to fulfill their obligations towards it. The Yamuna, which found a place in the Hindu pantheon is today living the curse of an insensitive economic development of several decades. Delhi, which built many empires on the banks of this river over centuries, is at its wit’s end today to see the moribund state of its life-giver. Where has the city gone wrong? In last four decades when Delhi broke its shackles and started to emerge as an economic giant, slow growing hinterland fueled the influx of population to the unprepared city. Delhi was continually found wanting to cope up this humongous in-migration. Scores of new settlements mushroomed in a totally unplanned manner, severely compromising the essential services meant for safe and healthy urban living. Wastewater generated by thousands of unplanned colonies found its way to the river through more than two hundred natural drains crisscrossing the city. Not only the Yamuna became terminally polluted, but the entire hydrology of the city feeding the river became toxic. Endeavors to rejuvenate the ailing Yamuna have been undertaken in the past in the name of Yamuna Action Plan- I, II and III. However, these action plans failed to translate into the intended objective to clean the river and had an almost negligible impact on the overall hydrology of the city. The reason behind this glaring failure is more than apparent. All these plans tried to situate the solution in the realm of stark engineering projects ignoring the important urban planning aspect altogether. While increasing volumes of sewage were brought to the newly built wastewater treatment plants, the aggravated hydrology of the city remained completely untouched. Today the glaring reality that urban planning needs to be resurrected and given the center stage in the river cleaning effort has become evident. At the same time, it is also apparent that the gargantuan task of cleaning the river along with the entire hydrology can’t be handled by any one institution alone. It needs to collaborate, co-operate and bring in the expertise unavailable to the city agencies locally.
Image by Randhir Singh
Delhi Jal Board has realized the immense potential in collaborations with local and global expert institutions. It has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Virginia - a globally acclaimed research institution, with an outstanding urban expertise. This partnership has infused a new and refreshing dimension to the river cleaning effort. City’s largest watershed – Najafgarh drain and its basin have been selected for the intensive scrutiny and detailed planning. This book illustrates some of the chosen projects from a gamut of a vast array of projects which emerged as a product of this planning exercise. These projects are also being showcased in the form of an exhibition. The untiring effort of Prof. Inaki Alday, Prof. Pankaj Vir Gupta, students and faculty of the University of Virginia, Shri Radheahyam Tyagi, Shri V K Gupta, Shri Vikram, Ms. Mriganka Saxena and officers of Delhi Jal Board has made this fabulous book and exhibition a reality. A sure and certain step is afoot, and we all hope that this journey will stop only when the Yamuna gets its turtle back in its waters. 07
An Essential Future Iñaki Alday and Pankaj Vir Gupta Co-founders of The Yamuna River Project
Confronting reality is the initial step towards imagining and initiating a transformation. Facts are analyzed and interpreted, and then assembled into visions for the future. As founders of the Yamuna River Project, we believe this ambitious investigation marshals the resources of a great public research university, forges a milestone collaboration with the Delhi Jal Board, and directs the expertise and insight of a multi-disciplinary team towards generating meaningful solutions for the crisis afflicting the Yamuna River. The relationship between the Yamuna and New Delhi constitutes one of the most acute urban dilemmas at present. We are optimistic that this research project shall be instrumental in identifying the many restorative opportunities latent in the space of the intersection between River and City. The Yamuna is a living ecological entity, with her own seasonal cycle of flow, complex hydraulic dynamics, and floodplain territory. For centuries, the river has existed as a significant geographic presence within the Indian landscape. In myth and in religion, in prose and in poetry, in song and in lore, the Yamuna has been immortalized as a primordial Goddess. But all this is in the past. Long gone are the days when the citizens of Delhi swam, fished, and strolled freely on the banks of the Yamuna. For centuries, the river constituted not just the defining axis, but also the ecological and agricultural lifeline of the many settlements preceding present day Delhi. Just as it is impossible to imagine the city of Varanasi without the presence of the Ganga, or separate the ancient town of Maheshwar from the ghats of the Narmada, Delhi and the Yamuna were once so conjoined. Even today, the sandstone walls of Mughal era monuments abutting the river, reveal watermarks of the Yamuna. In this age, characterized by geologists as the Anthropocene - when patterns of human settlement are the most significant influencing forces on environment and climate - urban populations in mega-cities have far exceeded the carrying capacity of designed infrastructure. In New Delhi, the Yamuna has been reduced to a poorly managed resource, absent both
from the urban landscape and from the urban imagination. The fight for citizens’ survival inflicts even deeper damage to an already fragile ecological circumstance. Urban development justified in the name of civic prosperity is often misleadingly defined in opposition to environmental security. In the hardscrabble urbanity of the present Indian megacity, there is little room for the ecologically sacred. The Yamuna River Project seeks to change this. We recognize a basic fact of the Anthropocene era - the cities that we design and make now, are the cities that we shall inhabit in the future. It is present day human intent and intervention that shall ensure the sustainability and survival of the future city - a city predicated on our ability to secure ecology from our own advances. We equate social prosperity with ecological stewardship, and propose to empower the citizens of New Delhi by the simple yet profound act of restoring our Yamuna. We recognize the dilemmas of New Delhi, or for that matter, any Indian megacity - a critical level of air and water pollution, scarcity of affordable housing, acute shortage of community space. The dysfunctional and contaminated Najafgarh drain, presently releasing a toxic flow of contaminants into the Yamuna, has the potential to transform into an ecological lifeline for the city, offering seasonal rainwater channels, walking and cycling paths, and areas for public amenities that would revitalize its surrounding neighborhoods. We imagine a future where the Najafgarh drain reverts into its original ‘avatar’ as the Sahibi River and merges into the Yamuna as a clear stream. We believe that the research efforts initiated at the University of Virginia, combined with the high-minded governance and civic leadership of the Delhi Jal Board, shall generate vital catalysts – solutions that would act in synergy to address some of the most pressing causes of urban and environmental conflict. We imagine a New Delhi, encircled with rejuvenated river-forests, offering a vital urban eco-sphere for the citizens of the present. 09
DELHI AND THE YAMUNA
“New Delhi confronts a real crisis—a rapid transition from a city without clean water for all its citizens to a city without any clean water at all.” Image by Randhir Singh
11
The Goddess Yamuna The River in the Culture
The Yamuna River has been an important subject in Indian art from at least the fourth or fifth century on: either as a goddess, or as a river that is itself a site of important events in the lives of gods and goddesses; in the lives of people who live along its banks; in the lives of emperors and princesses, who built forts and palaces and tombs on its banks. The Yamuna River occupied the Indian consciousness for millennia, and it is still the subject of contemporary art investigation in multiple disciplines.
The River Goddess Yamuna and Attendants India, Rajasthan, circa 800. Sculpture, red sandstone. The tortoise serves as the spiritual symbol and vehicle of the Yamuna goddess, Krishna. Image provided by: Daniel Ehnbom, Professor of Art History Source: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase. M.79.9.10.2a
13
The Water Governance
Understanding Jurisdiction
Various municipal, state and central government agencies govern and regulate the territory of the Yamuna and its drains and sub-drains. The complexity of Delhi’s governance and the resulting difficulties of administrative coordination have played an important role in contributing to the degradation of Delhi’s Yamuna. Surmounting the problems posed by Delhi’s governance is essential to revitalizing the river and its tributaries. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Central Government Central Ground Water Board Central Pollution Control Board Central Soil and Materials Research Station New Delhi Central Water Commission New Delhi Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC) National Institute of Hydrology Roorkee Upper Yamuna River Board National Ganga River Basin Authority Town and Country Planning Organization Central Public Works Department National Capital Regional Planning Board
12 13 14 15 16 17
State Government Urban Development Division Delhi Pollution Control Committee Department of Irrigation and Flood Control Public Works Department Delhi State Industrial+Infrastructure Development Forest Department
18 19 20
Municipality New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)
21 22 23
Other Bodies National Green Tribunal The Electoral System The World Bank
24 25
Initiatives National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) YAP-III (Yamuna Action Plan Phase III Funds)
Image by J. Echeverri-Gent, B. DiNapoli
2
12 13 14 15
1 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT Government of India
STATE LEVEL National Capital Territory of Delhi
9
1
16
10
DDA Delhi Development Authority
3
17
MINISTRY OF
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
4 MINISTRY OF
WATER RESOURCES
DELHI JAL BOARD
5
2
11
6 8
7
24
MINISTRY OF
ENVIRONMENT FORESTS + CLIMATE CHANGE
4 PUBLIC / PRIVATE
3
MUNICIPAL LEVEL
18
23 20
19
25
YAMUNA ACTION PLAN
COORDINATING AGENCIES
21 22
15
1991 POPULATION: 9,920,644
100.8
m2 vegetation/inhab.
44.0m
2
vegetation/inhab.
33.4m
2
vegetation/inhab.
2028
0.0
m2 vegetation/inhab.
Delhi’s Growth
1991
1996
2001
2006
2011
2016
2021
2026
2031
Land Use + Occupation Patterns
Over the past several decades, the city has seen an immense loss in vegetation in conjunction with the growth of urban areas and agriculture. The latter of these two are very detrimental for pollution as they both are emission sources for gaseous and solid waste, as well as the fact that they both present an issue of chemical runoff which during the monsoon season can be very harmful to the Yamuna region. The raw data gathered alone spells a dangerous future for Delhi. If the process of urbanization continues the pattern of the last 25 years, The National Capital Territory will lose all the agricultural and forest areas by 2028. These dramatic changes, on such a small timescale of 25 years and the immediate projections, illustrate just how vital it is that this problem be addressed holistically by the correct authorities.
31.5%
URBAN AREA
64.0%
VEGETATED AREA
4.5% water
35% 35%
2016 POPULATION: 18,866,902*
DECREASE IN FORESTED AREA
DECREASE IN AGRICULTURAL AREA
31.5%
URBAN AREA
Images: Research Director: M. Reidenbach, Associate Professor of Environmental Sciences Research Team: J. Safarik Research Scientist Associated: M. Rao
64.0%
VEGETATED AREA
42.0% 54.4%
VEGETATED AREA
URBAN AREA
4.5% water
3.6% water
17
DELHI’S WATERS
“At Wazirabad Barrage, the flow of the Yamuna is stopped and diverted for drinking purposes. Only the effluent of the drains and tributaries flow after Delhi.” Image by Randhir Singh
19
Karnal
3.4% (48km)
Tons
of the length of the Yamuna River is the Delhi N.C.T segment, stretching from Palla to Okhla Barrage.
THE YAMUNA
The Interrupted Yamuna
Giri
1.6% (22km) 1.6% (22km)
Hill Streams Canal Canal
of the length of the Yamuna River is of the length of the Yamuna River is the segment, stretching from the Delhi Delhi urban segment, stretching the Wazirabad to Okhla Barrage. from the Wazirabad to Okhla Barrage. Aglar Asan
Western Yamuna Canal
Yamuna River and Najafgarh Drain
Eastern Yamuna Canal
Bhudi Yamuna Choti Yamuna Khakhadi
The Najafgarh Drain is the first tributary of the Yamuna River in Delhi and its first source of flow after the Wazirabad Barrage, where 100% of the water coming from the Himalayans is captured for drinking. The Najafgarh stretches 58 kms across the Capital Territory of Delhi and brings 60% of the pollution to the river after crossing different neighborhoods and agricultural territories. While the Delhi Jal Board is committed to address the specific aspect of the sewage infrastructure, a number of questions remain without answer. The thesis of this investigation states that the ecological water crisis is the result of 150 years of neglect of the water bodies in the urban development of Delhi. Only through addressing the complexity of the urban phenomena, the social and ecological crisis that water manifests can be solved.
Katha Canal and Waste Water from Panipat Wazirabad Waterworks 100% WATER TAKEN WAZIRABAD BARRAGE NAJAFGARH DRAIN CENTRAL YAMUNA
Thermal Power Plant
60%
OF TOTAL POLLUTION
NO WATER FLOW DURING THE DRY SEASON
0%
Agra Canal
Faridabad Waste Water
In Wazirabad, the 100% of the river flow during the dry season is cut and channeled from the river by a network of pipes into the city. The ground water level has dramatically decreased during the last decades due to intensive and non-controlled pumping and lack of recharge due to the impervious coverage of the soil (duplicated in the last 25 years) and the deposit of sludge in the water courses.
Mathura+Vrindavan Waste Water Mathura Waterworks
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
Waste Water from Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida Hindon River
Mathura Waste Water
GOKUL BARRAGE Agra Waste Water Agra Water Works
Chambai Sind
Agra Waste Water Etawah Waste Water Allahabad Waterworks Allahabad Waste Water
Belwa Ken
GA
N GA
TO GANGA
21
Hill Streams
Organic Matter (BOD) Loads from Delhi Area Drains, May 2015
NAJAFGARH DRAIN
Canal Canal
7155.0 KG/DAY
MAGAZINE ROAD 43.1 SWEEPER COLONY
Aglar
16.8
KYBER PASS 3.2
Asan
METCALF HOUSE 29.6 Eastern Yamuna Canal
Karnal
1.6% (22km)
Giri
MAGAZINE ROAD 43.1
202.8
SWEEPER COLONY
395.0
DRAIN NO. 14
The Wazirabad Cut POWER HOUSE
13.4
Canal Canal
CIVIL MILL
DB ARR AGE
Organic Matter (BOD) Loads from Delhi Area Drains, May 2015
Hill Streams
Tons TONGA STAND 29.4
of the lengthChoti of theYamuna Yamuna River is the Delhi segment, stretching from the Wazirabad to Okhla Barrage.
WA ZIR ABA
108.9
QUDSIA BAGH
Aglar Asan
16.8
NAJAFGARH
DRAIN
DISSOLVED
KYBER PASS 3.2
237.9 METCALF HOUSE 29.6
SEN NURSING HOME
Agra Canal
Hindon Cut Canal
Research objectives are to gather all current research 4.8 mg/L Yamuna BOD Loads BOD levels before the Yamuna on the health of the Yamuna River and identify data Waste Water from Delhi, crosses the Wazirabad Barrage Ghaziabad and Noida gaps, and secondly, to analyze the water quality data Hindon River Faridabad Waste Water using models to evaluate revitalization efforts for the Agra Waste Water Yamuna River. A quantitative relationship BOD levelsbetween after the Najafgarh the Biochemical Oxygen Demandenters (BOD) the loadYamuna and the Mathura+Vrindavan Waste Water Etawah Waste Water Mathura Waste Water response in Dissolved MathuraOxygen Waterworks (DO) must be established Allahabad Waterworks GOKUL BARRAGE for the Yamuna River near Delhi. Models typically used Allahabad Waste Water in the United States, such as QUAL2 (Paliwal et el., Agra Waste Water 2007)A are not suitable in this case as they INCREASE IN LEVELS OF ORGANIC Agra Wasteare Water not Agra Water Works BOD levels after the Najafgarh NG GA capable of handling anaerobic conditions (i.e. DO AT THE NAJAFGARH MATTER entersPOINT-SOURCE the Yamuna Etawah Waste Water Chambai becomes zero). Therefore, an enhanced BOD/DO model Allahabad Waterworks has been developed and tested with point Allahabad source data Sind Waste Water from municipal, industrial,Belwa and urban drains. Continuing DECREASE IN BOD LEVELS REQUIRED INCREASE IN LEVELS OF ORGANIC Ken A model calibration is expected with additional data NG TO MEETGAINDIAN AMBIENT WATER QUALITY MATTER STANDARDS AT THE NAJAFGARH POINT-SOURCE during the non-monsoon season from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India. Mathura Waste Water
26 mg/L
26 mg/L 445% 62% 445%
TO GANGA
Image by W. Lung and B. DiNapoli
mg/L WA ZIR ABA
DB ARR AGE
13.4 100%
0.0 O
4.8 mg/L
62%
7
PRIOR TO THE NAJAFGARH
184.4
Western Yamuna Canal Yamuna has Canal 108.9 QUDSIA BAGH Manmade pollution of the Yamuna River Eastern in India caused this sacred waterway to become so polluted 275.4 BARAPULLA TONGA STAND 29.4 NO WATER FLOW feces, industrial effluents, and irrigation human 60% with DURING THE Bhudi Yamuna OF 2345.8 KG/DAY 202.8 CIVIL MILL DRY SEASON runoff that there is zero dissoluble Choti Yamuna chemical oxygen HINDON CUT TOTAL Khakhadi POLLUTION content and no aquatic life in parts of the river that run DRAIN 395.0 DRAIN NO. 14 NAJAFGARH 359.6 MAHARANI BAGH Katha Flowing 853 miles from the Himalayan 0% through Delhi. Canal and Waste Water from Panipat DISSOLVED 237.9 POWER HOUSE Mountains toCut itsCanal confluence with the Ganges River, the Hindon OXYGEN Wazirabad Waterworks mg/L Yamuna is the sole supplier of water for over sixty million 184.4 SEN NURSING HOME 100% WATER TAKEN DISSOLVED PRIOR TO people in India. As the population of India continues Yamuna BOD Loads BOD levels before the Yamuna THE NAJAFGARH WAZIRABAD BARRAGE Waste Water from Delhi, 275.4 BARAPULLA NAJAFGARH DRAIN toand increase, the pollution poses major risks forNOhuman crosses the Wazirabad Barrage Ghaziabad Noida WATER FLOW 2 Hindon River 60% DURING THE health. This research examines waterOFpollution the DRY in SEASON HINDON CUT 2345.8 KG/DAY Thermal Power Plant Yamuna River, specifically in the regionTOTAL of Delhi during POLLUTION 359.6 MAHARANI BAGH the non-monsoon season. 0%
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
O2
NAJAFGARH DRAIN
DISSOLVED
O2
mg/L
PRIOR TO THE NAJAFGARH
OF YAMUNA WATER IS TAKEN TO THE WAZIRABAD WATERWORKS
0.0 O DISSOLVED
DRAIN NAJAFGARH
WA ZIR ABA
DB ARR AGE
100%
OF YAMUNA WATER IS WAZIRABAD
mg/L
PRIOR TO THE NAJAFGARH
2
WA ZIR ABA
DB
NAJAFGARH
DRAIN
60%
OF TOTAL POLLUTION OF THE YAMUNA IN DELHI COMES FROM THE NAJAFGARH
DECREASE IN BOD LEVELS REQUIRED TO MEET INDIAN AMBIENT WATER QUALITY STANDARDS
60%
OF TOTAL POLLUTION OF THE YAMUNA IN DELHI COMES FROM THE NAJAFGARH
23
Sewage Infrastructure A Critical Network
The exponential growth of Delhi imposes a significant challenge to urban infrastructures, and specifically the sewage network. Unplanned growth has taken place without sewage pipes, and their waste water runs through the streets to the open drains. 45% of Delhi’s area is un-sewered, which means that between four and five million of inhabitants are not served by this basic infrastructure (more than 25% of Delhi’s population). Other major causes of pollution, besides the domestic sewage, are the industrial effluents, the dumping of solid waste into the drains and the river, the excessive use of agricultural fertilizers, and the slaughtering facilities. Twenty-two drains flow directly to the Yamuna, of which three main drains are key contributors: Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahdara. Najafgarh and Supplementary are part of one single system, contributing with the 60% of the total pollution. Other major challenges to include in a holistic strategy are the sludge dredge and disposition, and preventing the solid waste to end in the drainage system. The success in tackling these complex and intertwined challenges would end in the recovery of a healthy riparian system versus the currently dangerous open sewage situation.
SEWAGE TREATED CURRENT CAPACITY Image by L. Holland
PLANNED EXPANSION
25
Waste and Groundwater
A Public Health Challenge A significant portion of the city’s solid waste is not collected and goes to the drains and the Yamuna. Delhi has four landfills, three of which are overdue for closure. When the landfills first started growing, they were not supposed to exceed a height of 15 M. The three main landfills are all over 40 meters high, 300% times over its initial expectation. On an average day, 1000 tons of waste is dumped and distributed to each of these landfills. They are transported up the landfills by trucks about 600-650 times. These landfills are acute health hazards for their surrounding neighborhoods but also for the entire population of Delhi. Several fires are active in each of them, producing toxic smoke. Effluent of these landfills penetrates into the groundwater and into the adjacent drains. Delhi residents who live nearby must deal with bad smells and poisonous air quality. Large areas of the city face hazardous or extremely hazardous levels of nitrates in the ground water. Taken in relation to the Water Quality and Sewage, correlations between unsafe ground water, landfills and areas lacking sewage infrastructure arise.
Image by Randhir Singh
27
'(/+, 6 /$5*(67 /$1'),//6 '(/+, 6 /$5*(67 /$1'),//6 '(/+, 6 /$5*(67 /$1'),//6 '(/+, 6 /$5*(67 /$1'),//6 NITRATE LEVELS IN GROUND WATER ACCORDING TO DRINKING WATER SPECIFICATIONS
SOURCE : BUREAU OF INDIAN STANDARDS
EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS
+(,*+7 +(,*+7 +(,*+7 +(,*+7 +(,*+7 +(,*+7 +(,*+7
0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 HEIGHT 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56
0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56
*+$=,385 *+$=,385 *+$=,385 *+$=,385 *+$=,385 %+$/6:$ %+$/6:$ %+$/6:$ %+$/6:$ %+$/6:$ 2.+/$ 2.+/$ 2.+/$ 2.+/$ 2.+/$ *+$=,385 *+$=,385 %+$/6:$ %+$/6:$ 2.+/$ 2.+/$
0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56
0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56 0(7(56
1$5(/$ %$:$1$ 1$5(/$ %$:$1$ $3$570(17 %8,/',1* $3$570(17 %8,/',1* 1$5(/$ %$:$1$ 1$5(/$ %$:$1$ 1$5(/$ %$:$1$ $3$570(17 %8,/',1* $3$570(17 %8,/',1* $3$570(17 %8,/',1* 1$5(/$ %$:$1$ 1$5(/$ %$:$1$ $3$570(17 %8,/',1* $3$570(17 %8,/',1*
LAND MASS /$1' 0$66 /$1' 0$66 /$1' 0$66 /$1' 0$66 /$1' 0$66 /$1' 0$66 /$1' 0$66
500-1500 mg/L
11-33 times acceptable levels
64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(5664 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56
OVERCAPACITY
64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56
200% 167% 233% 200%
64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56 64 0(7(56
HAZARDOUS 45-500 mg/L
1-11 times acceptable levels
ACCEPTABLE 1-45 mg/L
acceptable standard levels
29
10 km
Supplementary Drain
The City of Drains
A Public Health Challenge 42 41 39 40
As one of the most continuous linear systems of undeveloped space in the city, Delhi’s urban waterways are a contested territory. A shortage of land in the urban core, combined with opportunistic infrastructure planning, has led to the layering of multiple infrastructures—including storm water, sewage, solid waste, electricity, and vehicular transportation—on top of the drain corridors. The clogging of these urban arteries has in many cases precluded their use as public space, and caused adjacent neighborhoods to turn their backs.
37
34
Najafgarh Drain 22 19 13 9
6
OrganicThe Matter (BOD) Loads Delhithe Area Drains, Maytotal 2015 Najafgarh Drain,from bringing 60% of the
Karnal
pollution, is the paradigm of once healthy river into a urban backyard. The recovery of 1.6% (22km) MAGAZINEtransformed ROAD 43.1 of the length of the Yamuna River is the Delhi segment, stretching from the riparian system that shapes Delhi’s geography will THE YAMUNA the Wazirabad to Okhla Barrage. SWEEPER COLONY 16.8 ultimately determine the prosperity and well-being of its 3.2 inhabitants. KYBER PASS
Tons
Canal
5
16 17
20
18
25
Yamuna River
Organic Matter (BOD) Loads from Delhi Area Drains, May 2015 NAJAFGARH DRAIN 7155.0 KG/DAY
8
Canal
Giri
11
15 14
23
26
10
7
Hill Streams
12
21
24
32 33 29 31 28 30 27
38 36 35
MAGAZINE ROAD 43.1 SWEEPER COLONY
Aglar
16.8
KYBER PASS 3.2
Asan
METCALF HOUSE 29.6 QUDSIA BAGH
Western Yamuna Canal
108.9
4
395.0
DRAIN NO. 14 POWER HOUSE SEN NURSING HOME
MAHARANI BAGH
NAJAFGARH DRAIN
HINDON CUT
2345.8 KG/DAY
359.6
Image by L. Holland, A. Hughes
Yamuna BOD Loads
4.8 mg/L
BOD levels before the Yamuna crosses the Wazirabad Barrage
0.0 O
Thermal Power Plant
Agra Canal
DISSOLVED
Faridabad Waste Water
60%
OF TOTAL POLLUTION
1
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
mg/L
237.9
POWER HOUSE
184.4 275.4
100%
MAHARANI BAGH Hindon Cut Canal
Waste Water from Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida Hindon River
DRAIN NAJAFGARH
395.0
PRIOR TO THE NAJAFGARH
BARAPULLA NO WATER FLOW DURING THE DRY SEASON
0%
PRIOR TO THE NAJAFGARH
2
O2
mg/L DRAIN NO. 14 SEN NURSING HOME
WAZIRABAD BARRAGE
275.4
CENTRAL YAMUNA
DISSOLVED
2 1
Wazirabad Waterworks 100% WATER TAKEN
184.4
BARAPULLA
Katha
Canal and Waste Water from Panipat
237.9
Barapullah Canal
202.8
CIVIL MILL
Choti Yamuna Khakhadi
DRAIN NAJAFGARH
108.9
TONGA STAND 29.4
Bhudi Yamuna
202.8
DB ARR AQUDSIA BAGH GE
13.4
3
TONGA STAND 29.4 CIVIL MILL
Eastern Yamuna Canal
METCALF HOUSE 29.6
WA ZIR ABA
HINDON CUT
2345.8 KG/DAY
359.6
OF YAMUNA WATER IS TAKEN TO THE WAZIRABAD WATERWORKS
Yamuna BOD Loads
4.8 mg/L
BOD levels before the Yamuna crosses the Wazirabad Barrage
0.0 O DISSOLVED
31
mg/L
PRIOR TO THE NAJAFGARH
2
33
THE NAJAFGARH RIVER RESTORATION
“At the neighborhood scale, the Najafgarh Drain is transformed from backyard to frontyard, orienting Delhi towards a water system whose health ultimately determines the prosperity and well-being of its inhabitants.� Image by Randhir Singh
35
Agricultural Arc
Delhi’s Green Infrastructure Vision Najafgarh Green Public Corridor
By looking at three existing components of Delhi’s Green Infrastructure: the agricultural arc that wraps the city from the west and north, The Yamuna River and its floodplain to the east, and the Southern Ridge Forest, we can imagine the Najafgarh Drain as an ecological spine that integrates all of these components. The Najafgarh Drain becomes the Najafgarh Sahibi River acting as a thick green corridor that weaves throughout Delhi serving as a site for water treatment and public gathering.
Supplementary Drain
Najafgarh Drain Yamuna River
This green corridor utilizes natural processes to treat water through bio-remediation. Soil substance, vegetation stem and root systems, oxygen quantities are evaluated to create an effective green treatment network. New vegetation is integrated with existing vegetation systems based on their capacity to treat different pollution types.
Palam Drain
The green corridor also works with existing and proposed building infrastructures along the drain. The effect of using natural and constructed green filters along the drain results in a holistic approach to water treatment. Farms, reservoirs, ditches, channels, green space, river banks, sewage treatment plants are all integrated into the new Najafgarh River system. The Najafgarh is a critical backbone of the Delhi Green Infrastructure. It exists as the only connection to the surrounding agricultural lands of the Najafgarh, just as the Yamuna is the only connection between the North and Southwest regions of Delhi. Image by J. Qui
Southern Ridge Forest
Najafgarh Lake 37
Sludge + Water Treatment Park
Transversal Connections Green Filters + Water Parks
Najafgarh River Strategic Plan
The urban corridor consists of three primary layers: critical ecologies, slow mobility and public facilities. At a regional scale, the corridor enables an urbanagricultural symbiosis, an infrastructural and entrepreneurial relationship between Delhi’s most urban regions and the agricultural crown. Within Delhi proper, the ecological network branches along former tributaries to include the Central Ridge Forest, sewage treatment wetland parks, recreational parks, city streets and solid waste management. The Corridor receives, exchanges, filters and processes this ecological matrix before emptying a clean and robust urban Delhi into the Yamuna floodplain.
Nilothi + Keshopur Sewage Treatment Plant Decentralized Waste +Treatment Systems Ramesh Nagar Nalla Rejuvenation
Najafgarh Agricultural Park
Subhash Nagar Drain Rejuvenation
Water + Energy Park
The Najafgarh Drain Strategies 1. Restoration of the Najafgarh corridor as a river park. 2. Water parks with green filters to treat effluents within the sewage treatment plants. 3. Pedestrian and bike mobility along the Najafgarh corridor with intermodal connections to the metro. 4. New public amenities located on the Najafgarh banks. 5. Rejuvenation of the sub-drains as parks in the dry season and storm water drains in the monsoon. 6. Decentralized waste and sewage treatment systems in areas without infrastructure. 7. New transversal connections between neighborhoods across the Najafgarh corridor. 8. Agricultural parks connecting citizens to food sources and promoting respect for the land.
Vikaspuri Drain Rejuvenation
Palam Drain Linear Park Najafgarh-Palam Civic Amenities Najafgarh Biodiversity Park
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Design Strategies The rehabilitation of Delhi’s waterways requires a holistic approach that considers all of the city’s systems in conjunction.
Distributed Sewer Infrastructure
Linear Park
Pedestrian and Bike Paths
New Urban Districts
We propose to understand the Najafgarh Drain and its tributaries as structural elements of the city: as a geographical and urban armature around which the city organizes its systems, including public space, public facilities, critical urban ecologies, and slow mobility. With the Najafgarh and the rest of the water bodies acting as linear parks, connections will bring together adjacent neighborhoods and basic civic facilities will gravitate towards these new linear parks. Water treatment parks, designed as socio-ecological public spaces will refine the quality of the storm water runoff and the effluents of the sewage treatment plants.
Tram Line
Sewage Treatment Parks
Boat Channel
Social Infrastructure Facilities
Dredged River Course
Infrastructure Crossing Metro
Image by J. Aronson
Sub-drains linear Parks
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Image by L. Miftakhova
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THE NAJAFGARH STRATEGIES
“The Najafgarh, recovered as a river, will be a catalytic backbone for Delhi and the critical step to recover the Yamuna River.” Image by Randhir Singh
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Water Cleansing Public Spaces The Case Study The imagined history to conceptualize the park starts by projecting ourselves back towards the silver forest of origin, what it meant to expand and settle there, cutting clearings, installing grassland, and organizing the layout of the water as the farmers did. By not establishing a brutal picture of the site but rather allowing the soil to express its qualities (unlike architecture, the landscape is not drawn), the design expresses a story of a territory and the relationship its inhabitants maintain with it. But even before this occupation, the bend and meander belongs to the river, providing overflow space and natural filtering through the vegetation, sheltering only the most delicate areas. The alluvial forest had been reduced through the centuries to make room for agriculture. The Park returns much of the surface of the meander to the river. The natural floods are part of the public space, mantaining the landscape instead of damaging it. The river teaches humans how to live productively with her. In order to build on agricultural land that is currently worked and fertile, plots mutate their uses and modes of management, and irrigation ditches and canals expand the exsiting meander structure.
The flow of the river Ebro has a strong seasonality, from 100 to 800 m3/s (summer to winter), and usual spring floods from 1.200 to 2.000 m3/s, which is up to 20 times the dry summer flow. The Water Park, in the Northwest edge of the city of Zaragoza, is the culmination of the recovery of both banks of the river across the entire city as a public river park system. The floodplain is the natural river park area, with its vegetation and fauna maintained by the river's flow and floods. Wetlands are high biodiversity spots. The grass is trimmed by sheep herds brought during the spring.
The channels follow the trace of the ancient irrigation ditches. Their construction includes shallow underwater terraces for aquatic vegetation that maintains the quality of the water.
Inside the Pak, the water system organizes a living system, a journey that purifies the water from the river Ebro and the Rabal Channel for recreational use. At the end of its journey, some water is recycled for irrigation and some is returned to the river through wetlands that support a rich and vibrant wildlife. The Water Park, Zaragoza (Spain), 2008. aldayjover architecture and landscape
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Sludge Remediation Area Phase 01
Ecological Water and Vegetation Park
Social Spaces Along the Drain
Tramway Connecting Neighborhoods
Green Amphitheater on Mound
Mounds of Encapsulated Sludge
Channels for Public Access
Rain Water Collection Areas
Water + Sludge Treatment Park The Chhatrapati Ring Road Crossing typifies several major mobility crossings along the Najafgarh in which no intentional, urban-scale relationships exist. As a result, Delhi is structured from opposite ends. Additionally, this site features a typical Najafgarh Park, a well-used space that currently faces Delhi’s streets and turns its back to the drain. This prototype will utilize the waste created from the dredging of the Najafgarh to reshape the site into a more functional and ecological public space oriented toward the water, instead of transporting the waste and damaging a new space. The corridor construction initiates upstream, capturing downstream flows and deeply settled sludge. The dredging operation allows for a newly-contoured profile that creates a narrow channel for consistent flow through the dry season, wide and shallow banks for a robust riparian zone and monsoon flow, and continuous slow mobility along the corridor. Sludge is dewatered on-site and used to create sealed artificial hills overlooking the river. The effluent and the gas of the sludge is captured and cleaned or reused without polluting the groundwater or the air.
Image by J. Aronson
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RESIDENTIAL
EXPERIMENT FARM
EXPERIMENT FARM CIVIC CENTER RESIDENTIAL TRAINING SCHOOL AMUSEMENT PARK CIVIC CENTER MARKET
TRAINING SCHOOL TERMINAL
AMUSEMENT BRIDGE PARKPARK
MARKET SPORTS COURT
Neighborhood Connections Social Infrastructure
Many existing bridges cross the Najafgarh drain serving the city’s transportation needs. But these bridges are infrequent and are built to primarily serve vehicular transportation. As a result, the drain acts as a major barrier between neighborhoods on either side of the drain—limiting pedestrian connectivity and access to public services and amenities. The Najafgarh provides many locations where new bridges can be built, not for transportation needs, but to act as social amenities and connectors. The bridges connect existing social infrastructures (such as parks, schools, universities, and hospitals) on either side of the drain and act as catalysts for the drain remediation process, creating a network of parks and social services which strengthen the idea of the Najafgarh as a new green, urban corridor serving Delhi. Research centers, schools, civic centers, markets, sports facilities, and inter-modal connectors are all potential uses of these new bridges and the transversal axis that stitch the neighborhoods on each side of the Najafgarh.
Image by M. Huang, Other Images: aldayjover
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RE
Image by B. Duguay
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INTERCEPTOR SEWER PHASING
INTERCEPTOR SEWER PHASING INTERCEPTOR SEWER — PALAM DRAIN
STP
Sub-drains INTERCEPTOR SEWER PROJECTS Rejuvenation
STP
STP
Interceptor Strategy
OR SEWER PHASING
0 Sewage runs directly into the open drainage system, polluting the Yamuna and its tributaries.
Dr ain
INTERCEPTOR SEWER — PALAM DRAIN
Pa la
m
INTERCEPTOR SEWER PROJECTS solid waste filter
00 Original State Sewage runs directly 1 The interceptor sewer diverts sewageinto the open drainage system, polluting the the Yamuna and its Sewage runsplant directly open drainage from subdrains to a treatment (STP);into tributaries. treated effluentsystem, is released back intothe theYamuna drain polluting and its system. tributaries.
INTERCEPTOR SEWER PHASING sewage flow diverted to treatment plant
Najafgarh Drain
1 Primary Drain Catchment 1 is repeated The interceptor 2 The process for the sewer diverts sewage from subdrains tosystem a treatment Thesubdrains; interceptor sewer diverts fromplant (STP); the interceptor sewersewage now treated effluent is released back into the drain carries sewage sub-subdrains to the STP, subregions into afrom treatment plant (STP); bypassing the subdrain entirely. treated affluent issystem. released into the drain system.
The Delhi Jal Board is in the process of taking an INTERCEPTOR SEWER — PALAM DRAIN important first step, installing a series of interceptor sewers which will capture polluted water in the drain system and divert it to nearby sewage treatment plants. In the first phase, major tributary drains are intercepted. A future phase will intercept the tributaries of those tributaries. Ultimately STP STP STP STP piped sewage infrastructure willSTPbe installed in currently unsewered areas. This new condition will dramatically transform the function and character of the drain system. With sewage diverted to piped NOVEL HYDROLOGIES NOVEL HYDROLOGIES – SEASONALLY – SEASONALLY DRY CHANNELS DRY CHANNELS INTERCEPTOR SEWER — PALAM DRAIN infrastructure, the subdrains will no longer contribute to the flow of the Najafgarh Drain. Instead, the 2 Catchment 3 Complete Sewage Infrastructure 0 Sewage runs directly into the open 1 Sub-drain The interceptor sewer diverts sewage 2 The process is repeated for the s directly into the open 1 The interceptor sewer diverts sewage 2 The process is repeated for the 3 Finally, surrounding neighborhoods are sewage treatment plants will become newdrainage urban system, polluting the Yamuna and its fromprocess subdrainsis torepeated a treatment plant (STP); subdrains; the interceptor sewer system now The Theprovided interceptor sewer diverts sewage with from olluting the Yamuna and its from subdrains to a treatment plant (STP); subdrains; the interceptor sewer system nowfor the sub-drains; with piped sewer infrastructure, springs, feeding the Najafgarh,treated and by extension tributaries. treated effluent issewer released back into thecarries drain carries sewage from(STP); sub-subdrains to the STP, now subregions into asewers treatment plant effluent is released back into the drain carries sewage the frominterceptor sub-subdrains to thesystem STP, the interceptor now serving as trunk system. bypassing the subdrain entirely. the Yamuna, with treated effluent. system. bypassing the subdrain linkesaffluent to the STP. sewageentirely. from the sub-drains to the STP, treated is released into the drain build-up of solid waste is dredged daily
trash pickers from lowest castes salvage usable material
The sub-drains will be dry channels for most of the year while the monsoon will require them to be able to handle large volumes of water for short periods of time. Without a holistic urban design approach, the 9-month dry channels will become giant trash collectors. Besides being a major environmental and health hazard for millions of inhabitants, the monsoon will find the drains clogged and unable to evacuate the waters, resulting in widespread urban floods.The Najafgarh sub-drains need to become ecological linear parks during the dry season, designed to evacuate large amounts of storm water during the monsoon. The seasonal presence of water will create rich biodiverse corridors penetrating the city and connecting it with the Najafgarh River corridor. Images by L. Holland, A. Hughes
permeable barrier permits flow of liquid and small particulates
bypassing the sub-drain entirely.
system.
sewage diverted to Pappankalan STP via interceptor sewer
retractable barrier permits monsoon flow
STP
STP
Season DRY SEASON Dry DRY With SEASON sewageCorridor diverted, With sewage the diverted, the With sewage diverted, the sub-drains subdrains will become subdrains dry corridors will become that dry can corridors that can will accommodate slow accommodate mobility, urban slowecologies, mobility, urban become dry corridors that canecologies, accommodate public space, andslow public occasional space,stormwater. andurban occasional stormwater. mobility, ecologies, public space, and occasional stormwater.
Monsoon Flow Management MONSOON/STORM MONSOON/STORM EVENTS The subdrains EVENTS The subdrains Thewill sub-drains will flooding, mitigate flooding, willmitigate mitigate transmit flooding, stormwater transmit stormwater directlystormwater to the Najafgarh directly to drain, the and Najafgarh retain drain, a and retain a transmit directly to the portion inDrain, order to portion recharge in order the water to recharge table. the water table. Najafgarh and retain a portion in order to recharge the water table. 55
Vikaspuri Drain Rejuvenation The current state of the Vikaspuri Drain, is one that causes physical harm to the inhabitants surrounding it. To the east of the sewage-filled drain, dangerous residential conditions and unmaintained infrastructure wreak havoc on underserved population, while the communities to the west of the drain enjoy improved living conditions. Acting as a buffer between the two demographics, the existing drain has an opportunity to stitch the communities together through a seasonal park that facilitates organization both laterally and longitudinally. As the sub-drain infrastructure is implemented, the sewage will be removed and the drain will become seasonal during the monsoon. Water will flow towards the Najafgarh using the wide areas of the park as retention areas. This retention areas will minimize flooding and recharge the ground water. During the nine months of the dry season, the Vikaspuri Park will provide green space and ecological release to one of the most dense and underserved areas of Delhi. Connecting Uttam Nagar East metro station to the Najafgarh, Vikaspuri will become a vibrant urban lung. The population living in unacceptable conditions in the drain would be housed in the new urban facade.
Image by B. Duguay
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Najafgarh Drain
LIG/MIG Flats
Sub-drain Linear Park during Dry Season
Hastal Road
Police Colony Sub-drain Water Channel during Wet Season
Social Housing
Constructed Park during Dry Season
Uttam Nagar East Metro Station Najafgarh Road Image by E. Erhabor, A. Morrell
59 Retention Lagoons during Wet Season
Water pavilions reusing the existing ramp structures
Palam Drain Rejuvenation This project is serving a site that is bound by multiple spatial conditions. At the edge, a sub-drain pathway meets the Najafgarh drain and is channeled through a cremation and burial ground. A mile north of this site is one of Delhi’s major Sewage Treatment Plants, the Palampakkan Treatment Plant. This project is attempting to unify spaces of water that have religious associations and practical, infrastructural associations, with spaces that can serve the entire city. Once step two of the interceptors strategy is in place, the Palam Drain, now a seasonal stream, should be a major linear park during the dry season, connecting Delhi’s ridge with the Najafgarh and serving as an ecological amenity to millions of inhabitants of Southwest Delhi. The urban design plan will need to confront the appropriateness or obsolesence of the covered portions of the drain in the general restoration plan. It should seek to restore ecological value before the drain becomes a giant trash collector. In a forward looking vision, the cover over should be removed at some point and its structure smartly reutilized. The base of the drain, now recovered as gardens and pedestrian paths, will become a storm water drain with the walls reutilized to create water harvesting reservoirs and community centers. In an area currently absent of basic amenities, each of the former ramps are transformed into small shelters that provide toilets, laundry, collective kitchens and safe spaces for women and children. Image by L. Holland
Drainage canal during the monsoon
Linear park during the dry season
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Images by S. Aul, L. Holland, and A. Hughes. Cremation Grounds by S. Ruhl
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Civic Amenities
Sub-drain Social Infrastructure Programs like community shelters and social amenities, placed along the Najafgarh, will be transformational in turning the city towards the water. Strategically located, these interventions will improve the equality of access across the city by providing necessary services for less privileged portions of the population. These programs can combine important social functions with infrastructures for local economies like laundry or farming. In both cases, the lack of proper infrastructure makes basic activities harmful to the environment through the pollution of waters and depletion of the aquifers. Specifically, in farming, the lack of storage and processing infrastructures ends in the loss of huge amounts of food urgently needed by the population.
Washing and Laundry Facilities
The Najafgarh is an important axis and an excellent opportunity to remediate urgent social needs and help local entrepreneurial economies.
Farming Infrastructure Adapted to Floods Images by S. Sullivan, E. Barr
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Health, Education, and Public Space Image by B. DiNapoli
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Decentralized Infrastructures
Local Trash-Sewage Management With the goal of rejuvenating local communities’ along the Najafgarh Drain a new strategy for street typologies, public spaces, systems of sewage, storm water, and social infrastructure should be considered. By allowing for certain services that occur on the scale of the city to be consolidated into scales of the home, the park and the street, a decentralized approach to urban infrastructure can comprehensively address trash, pollution, health, and social issues within the neighborhood. A new approach to sewage and waste management is also an opportunity for the introduction of urban ecologies, specially in neighborhoods in which the density and the size of the streets are huge challenges for the implementation of traditional networks. Groups of houses are clustered and their sewage is directed to a local biodigestor. The effluent is treated in constructed green filters of subsuperficial flow, with water circulating under the surface and nurturing the vegetation of the green streets. After these first treatment, water is no longer toxic and is released into small “pocket parks” for further refinement. The “pocket parks” and the constructed wetlands in the banks of the Najafgarh performs the tertiary step of the refinement process in order to release clean water into the river. For waste, the strategic locations selected for the clustered biodigestors are used for localized waste collection. The “pocket parks” can also incorporate small neighborhood amenities.
Image by aldayjover architecture and landscape
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Waste Water Management Septic Tank
Bio Digestor
Storm Water with Treated Sewage Green Filter
Sub-Superficial Wetland Flow Treatment
2
1
Wetland Treatment
3
4
+ Pocket Park + Street Parks
Street Runoff. Capturing Debri and Street Pollution
Bio Gas
Black Water
Scrum
Bio Gas Collection
Scrum
Outlet
Street
Sludge
c Tan
k Bio Digestor
Residential Unit
Inlet
Gray Water
Sludge
Septi
Horizontal Flow Treatment Pocket Park and Street Parks
Storm Water
1
Bio Gas Collection
Storm Water + Treated Sewage Water
2
or
4
Rain Collection
Rain Flow
When heavy rain water moves to wetland
Kitchen
Trash
Collect and clean from debri and storm water
0
Sewage Outlet
Storm Water Use
OR
OR Storm Water + Treated Sewage Water
Outlet
Organic Solids Management
Soil Bioremediation Treatment
Gray Water Outlet
4 Sludge Inlet
Collected Rain Water
Trash Management Household Trash
1
Weekly Household Trash Collection Area
2
Composting Trash
Organic Mater from Composter
Pasteurized Sludge Outlet
Sludge Treatment
Landfill
Pasteurized Sludge
3 Trash Inlet Bio Gas
Organic Matter
Image by E. Dorton, L. Miftakhova, and K. Salata
Solids
Pasteurized Sludge
Trash would be collected from each residence at small pocket park collection facilities. On a weekly basis, compost produced from composting machines located at the end of each neighborhood street will be collected by waste services. The organic matter will be re-used as fertilizer for local agriculture and pocket parks. There is an additional potential for gas collection from both systems of trash and sewage management.
Solids
The sewage treatment process involves 1) the separation of solids through a biodigester 2) the treatment of organic substrate by its filtration and decomposition in linear green streets or larger pocket parks 3) the merging of stormwater with the pretreated water from the decentralized system, eventually being filtered into the wetlands surrounding the Najafgarh Drain and 4) the return of treated water from the wetlands into the Najafgarh Drain as a clean source of water. 71
Image by Randhir Singh
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CREDITS Authors: Iñaki Alday, Pankaj Vir Gupta Book Design: Joseph Brookover Graphics: Ben DiNapoli Collaborators: Haritha Bhairavabhatla, Tyler Mauri, Lemara Miftakhova, and Katie Salata Image Copyrights: By their authors Photographs: Randhir Singh Printing: Jumbo Digital ISBN: 978-0-9974301-6-5 Edited by: The Yamuna River Project with the support of The University of Virginia and The Delhi Jal Board The Yamuna River Project is a pan-university research project of The University of Virginia supported by the Vice Provost for Global Affairs, Jeffrey Legro, Taylor Professor of Politics Director: Iñaki Alday, Quesada Professor of Architecture. Co-founder. India Coordinator: Pankaj Vir Gupta, Professor of Architecture. Co-founder.
ADVISORY COUNCIL
MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAMS
Ian Baucom Ila Berman John Echeverri-Gent Debjani Ganguly Jeffrey Legro Karen McGlathery Brian Owensby
2016-17 Aleksander De Mott Andrew Morrell Audrey Hughes Elizabeth Dorton Fiorella Barreto Josh Aronson July Qiu Laurence Holland Lemara Miftakhova Meng Huang Sally Aul Sophie Mattinson Sosa Erhabor Tianning Miao Ana He Gu Ana Mota Cristina Preciado Danielle Price Justin Safarik Katie Salata Siddarth Velamakanni Katy Miller Katie Carter
RESEARCH FACULTY Peter Debaere Daniel Ehnbom Gouping Huang Wu-Seng (Winston) Lung Christian McMillen Bala Mulloth Mahesh Rao Matt Reidenbach Vivian Thomson ina3h@virginia.edu www.yamunariverproject.org
Maggie Grady Julia Johnson Emily McDuff Vivi Tran Tony Zhang Haritha Bhairavabhatia 2015-16 Aaron Bridgers Andrew Shea Ben DiNapoli Brittany Duguay Chloe Voltaire Cristina Castillo Fuhou Zhang Joseph Brookover Philip Chang Samantha Manock Marissa Sayers Sean Sullivan Gabrielle Rashleigh Shannon Ruhl Stephen Hobbs Yushan Du
2014-15 Abigail Sandberg Eric Barr Anna Cai Anna Freidrich Chris Wallace Donna Ryu Isabel Argoti Jessica Bar Joseph Laughlin Lauren Nelson Michelle Stein Seth Salcedo William Keel 2013-14 Henry Brazer Alexandra Iaccarino Courtney Keehan Jaline Mcpherson Kate Fowler Luke Escobar Madeline Partridge Rachel Himes
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Yamuna River Project has received generous and critical support from the following organizations and individuals: Aga Khan Trust for Culture Embassy of Spain in India Embassy of Switzerland in India Katz Family Foundation Yamuna Biodiversity Park YES Institute, India
The Delhi Jal Board
R.M. Bhardwaj Rana Dasgupta Bimal Patel Pradip Saha Mohammad Shaheer Mr. and Mrs. Navjeet Sobti
The design of the new capital city of New Delhi (by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker) initiated a process of disengagement with the river. It became simply a resource for water, without spatial acknowledgment of its place as a site for religious and secular rituals that were embedded in the historic life of the city. In its colonial avatar, New Delhi would rely on the commodification of the water - an element to be piped, stored and dispensed from taps, without giving any credence to the geography of the Yamuna’s presence in the physical fabric of the city. Currently, the city faces a rapidly increasing population, insufficient resources, fragmented management, and the lack of a unified and holistic urban design proposition for life that ought to co-exist with the ecology of the river. Ignoring the critical relationship between land and water, between habitation and ecology, New Delhi confronts a real crisis—a rapid transition from a city without clean water for all its citizens to a city without any clean water at all. The Yamuna River Project aims to serve as a catalyst for the urgent recovery of the Yamuna and its tributaries, building a publicly accessible body of information and expertise, and visions of what an alternative future would be.
THE YAMUNA RIVER PROJECT A RESEARCH INITIATIVE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DELHI JAL BOARD