Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Delhi government will use nature-based solutions (NbS) to treat polluted water in different drains before it enters the Yamuna. NbS is an eco-friendly initiative for pollution abatement that treats raw sewage on-site. Under the initiative, approved by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) last week, government will use rock filters, stone masonry and aquatic plants for natural in-situ treatment of waters in Shastri Park, Gaushala, Kailash Nagar and Ramesh Nagar drains.“The initiative will be taken up in addition to the setting up of new STPs and strengthening the existing plants. The success of NbS approach in Delhi will be replicated in other cities in due course,” said an official in the Union Jal Shakti ministry.
The UN Environment Programme defines NbS as actions aimed at protecting, conserving, restoring and sustainably managing natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits.A decision to deploy NbS measures for Delhi’s drains was taken last week by the NMCG — a central nodal agency to implement various river rejuvenation programmes for Ganga and its tributaries. The NbS is considered the most cost-effective and sustainable way to restore ecosystem. The concept is not new for India as the govt has been trying to scale it up for the last couple of years and even highlighted its importance in the Union budget of 2023-24.The govt, thereafter, launched the Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Income (MISHTI) to promote and conserve mangroves as unique, natural ecosystem having very high biological productivity and carbon sequestration potential, besides working as a bio shield.
