Delhi: Yamuna nears warning level, just 0.37m away

The water level of the Yamuna at the Delhi Railway Bridge reached 204.13 metres at 4 pm on Wednesday, just 0.37 metres short of the warning level of 204.50 metres.

The water level of the river at the Delhi Railway Bridge was 204.1 metres at 9 am, and it rose to 204.13 metres by 10 am. Since then, it has been at the same level.

On Tuesday, for the first time this monsoon, water discharge from Haryana’s Hathnikund Barrage exceeded the 50,000 cusecs mark, peaking at 54,707 cusecs around 1 am, according to the Central Water Commission (CWC).

Even lower discharges from upstream are raising the water level, nearing the warning mark in Delhi.

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A committee under the Ministry of Jal Shakti had earlier recommended revising the danger levels at the Delhi Railway Bridge, which were already revised a few years ago.

Water released from the barrage typically takes 48 to 50 hours to reach Delhi, with the Old Railway Bridge serving as the primary monitoring point. A water expert criticised the revision recommendation as shifting the goalpost.

“These points relate to siltation and floodplain encroachment, raising the riverbed in Delhi. Instead of repeatedly increasing warning and danger levels, which were already revised in 2019, the government should first conduct a geomorphological study of the river’s upper segment,” said Bhim Singh Rawat, an activist and member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP).

Last year, despite intense rainfall, Delhi narrowly missed touching the warning level, with the Yamuna peaking at 204.38 metres in late September.

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In contrast, the catastrophic floods of July 2023 saw record water levels of 208.66 metres and peak discharge from Hathnikund touching 3.59 lakh cusecs. Areas like Mayur Vihar, ITO, Salimgarh bypass and Civil Lines were inundated, displacing thousands.

According to the Delhi government’s flood control plan, a first warning is officially triggered only when discharge from Hathnikund exceeds 1 lakh cusecs, a mark still far off for now.

Irrigation and Flood Control department in this year’s order said, “Once that threshold is crossed, sector-level control rooms will activate, boats will be deployed, and vulnerable areas will be placed under surveillance.”