Work on the Yamuna interceptor project or the sewage trunk system should begin by July, Ramesh Negi, the chief executive officer of Delhi Jal Board told Governance Now. “This is being done under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and it will be implemented by Engineers India Ltd,” he added.

Negi said that the sewage trunk system will take all the sewage from all the major three nalas of Delhi directly to the sewage treatment plants (STPs). The polluted water from the nalas flows directly into the Yamuna as of now. He said the aim of this project is to bring the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in Yamuna to less than 15. Currently it is 30. “This will make the water in Yamuna in Delhi also sufficiently clean,” he added.

Delhi was not the only state which doesn’t have adequate sewage treatment capacity, Negi said. “According to the central pollution control board, Sonepat in Haryana also doesn’t have adequate sewage treatment capacity,” he said.

He said that the capital cost of this project is Rs 1, 400 crore. Accordign to previous reports, the system will treat 1,320 million litres per day before releasing the water into the drains which flow into the Yamuna. Negi added that the required clearances have been acquired.