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Water quality simulation under river restoration measures for the Delhi stretch of river Yamuna, India

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Abstract

It is currently unclear how river restoration based on hydro-geometrical modifications, dredging, and creating a barrier instead of its removal on a river would affect the water quality in urban rivers. This work attempts to fill this gap in our understanding by simulating the water quality of a highly critical 22-km-long Delhi stretch of river Yamuna in terms of DO, BOD, and total coliform after the implementation of these river restoration measures. Four scenarios were conceptualized based on these restoration measures and water quality simulated. These are: scenario I: simulate the impact of varying the width uniformly for all reaches of the study stretch on the water quality, scenario II: simulate the impact of increased depth by controlled dredging. Scenario III (a) closing the ITO barrage gate and then simulating river water quality from Wazirabad barrage to ITO barrage and (b) closing the ITO barrage and simulation of water quality from ITO barrage to Okhla barrage. Results reveal that the water quality improved significantly in scenario I and scenario II. Scenario III did not yield desirable results in terms of water quality improvement. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first attempt involving river morphometry changes using the QUAL2k model for the Delhi stretch of river Yamuna.

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Source: Delhi Jal Board (2016)

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out as a doctoral thesis of the first author under the second author. The TEQIP-II fellowship received by the first author from HBTU Kanpur is acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur, Nawabganj, Kanpur, UP, 208 002, India

    Sudha Sippi & Dipteek Parmar

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  1. Sudha Sippi
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  2. Dipteek Parmar
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All authors contributed to this study as per the details below: First author was involved in data collection, processing, analysis, and the first draft of the manuscript. Second author helped in conceptualization of the research problem, supervision, revision of the manuscript—especially the introduction, results and discussion, conclusions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”

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Correspondence to Dipteek Parmar.

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Sippi, S., Parmar, D. Water quality simulation under river restoration measures for the Delhi stretch of river Yamuna, India. Environ Dev Sustain 26, 5891–5914 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-02943-5

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