"Parivesh", a Newsletter of CPCB, Delhi

BIO-MAPPING OF RIVER BASIN - A CASE STUDY ON RIVER YAMUNA

River Yamuna is the largest tributary of River Ganga, which is considered sacred as per Hindon mythology among all the rivers. Central Pollution Control Board has undertaken a case study on bio-mapping of entire River Yamuna basin based year long biological data.

River Yamuna

The main stream of the river Yamuna originated from the Yamunotri glacier near Bandar Punch in the Mussorie range of lower Himalayas in the district of Uttar Kashi in Uttar Pradesh. The Tons and Giri rivers are the important tributaries of Yamuna and principal source of water in mountaineous range. The river Yamuna traverse a route length of about 1200 km in the plain from Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh to the confluence with river Ganga at Allahabad. The main tributaries joining in this reach include the Hindon from eastern bank and the Chambal, the Sind, Betwa and the Ken from south-western bank.

The catchment of the Yamuna river system covers parts of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and the entire state of Delhi. Each one of these major tributaries in turn have its own tributary system.

Tributaries of Yamuna

The River Giri with its tributaries Ashwani and Kawal Khad and the Gambhar with its main tributary Baliana are the main rivers controlling the drainage system in the eastern and western part of the Solan district.

The River Tons meets river Yamuna at Dakpathar in U.P.

River Hindon originates from Upstream of Saharanpur in U.P. and meets River Yamuna downstream Delhi at Mazawali, Haryana.

River Chambal is most important occupying nearly half of the basin area of Yamuna. The Chambal contributes 5 to 10 times more water to the Yamuna than its own flow in dry weather.

River Chambal originates from Bar Nagar (M.P.) and joins River Yamuna after Udi (U.P.) at Juhikha (U.P.). From its origin onwards tributaries, Khan and Kshipra join river Chambal before Nagada (M.P.).

Another main tributary of River Chambal is Kalisindh which gets additional water from tributary Parwan at Kota (Rajasthan). Subsequently, tributary Kalisindh joins river Chambal at down stream of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan. Parbati is yet another important tributary of river Chambal which is fed by tributary Seven before joining of river Chambal at Datra (Palighat). Ultimately, tributary Banas joins River Chambal at Rameshwarghat (Rajasthan). Banas collects water from the sub-tributaries Bearch and Gambhiri before Chittaurgarh in Rajasthan. River Sindh is major tributary of river Chambal which originates from Vidisha (M.P.) and joins River Chambal at downstream of Datia in U.P. very close to the confluence of Chambal river and river Yamuna.

River Betwa originates from the upstream of Mandideep (Bhopal, M.P.) and joins River Yamuna at the down stream of Hamirpur (M.P.).On its way from origin, river Dhasan from Sagar (M.P.) joins river Betwa at downstream of Jhansi (M.P.)

River Mandakini and Ken are the last tributaries of river Yamuna before it joins river Ganga. Many small streams join river Ken at Panna (M.P.) from Panna onwards, River Ken flows up to the place of confluence with River Yamuna at Banda in Uttar Pradesh.

The biological data collected on the saprobity and diversity score of benthic macro-invertebrate families, the water quality class of the river stretches have been assigned with the help of Biological Water Quality Criteria (BWQC). On the basis of water quality class a unscaled coloured bio-map of river Yamuna basin has been prepared (Fig.1) for water quality assessment of tributaries and rivers in their respective states. Table 5 to 9 indicate the classification of river stretches in River Yamuna Basin in to five classes with respect to biological water quality.

Out of 39 rivers and tributaries of River Yamuna Basin four river stretches of river Yamuna, Tons, Banas and Ken are clean water (Class `A') (Table 3). 11 river stretches are slightly polluted (Class `B') (Table 4), 72 stretches are moderately polluted (Class `C') (Table 5), 9 river stretches on heavily polluted (Class `D') (Table 6) and 4 river stretches are severely polluted (Class `E') in Yamuna basin (Table 7).

Table 3 Clean water stretches (Class `A') of rivers and tributaries of Yamuna Basin (Indicator colour - blue)

S. No.	River/ Tributaries*	Location of river stretches	TAXA/families of Benthic macro-invertebrates commonly collected from water bodies
1.	Yamuna	Yamunotri to Kalsi (U.P.)	EPHEMEROPTERA : Heptageniedae, Leptophlebiidae, Ephemerellidae, Ephemeriidae Pothaminthidae, Siphonuridae, Caenidae, Baetidae PLECOPTERA : Leuctridae, Perlodidae, Perlidae, Taeniopterygidae TRICHOPTERA : leptoceridae, Glossosomitdae, Sericostomatidae, Brachycentridae, Goeridae, Beracidae, Hydroptilidae, Rhyacophilidae, Polycentropodidae, Hydropsychiidae HEMIPTERA : Aphelocheiridae DIPTERA : simulidae, Tipulidae
2.	Tons	Haripur at Kothi Minas (U.P.)
3.	Banas* (Chambal)	Rameshwarghat B/c to Chambal river (Rajasthan)
4.	Ken	Panna (M.P.)

* = Tributaries of the river A/c = After confluence

( ) = States U/s = Upstream

B/c = Before confluence D/s = Down stream

Table 4 Slightly polluted stretches (Class `B') of rivers and tributaries of Yamuna Basin (Indicator Colour - Light Blue)

S. No	River/ Tributaries*	Location of river stretches	TAXA/families of Benthic macro-invertebrates commonly collected from water bodies
1.	Assani* (Giri)	Assani Khad, Solan (H.P.)	EPHEMEROPTERA, PLECOPTERA, TRICHOPTERA : families of Class `A' HEMIPTERA : Aphelocheiridae, ODONATA : Lestidae, Gomphidae, Libellulidae, Coenagriinidae DIPTERA : Simulidae, Tipulidae PLANARIA : Planariidae
2.	Giri	Giripul to Dakpathar (U.P.)
3.	Yamuna	Dakpathar to Hathnikund
4.	Betwa	Hamirpur (M.P.)
5.	Kutni* (Ken)	Dumsa B/C Ken (M.P.)
6.	Kail* (Ken)	Kishanpur B/C Ken (M.P.)
7.	Ken	Banda B/C Yamuna (U.P.)
8.	Mandakini	Karvi D/s of Chitrakut (U.P.)
9.	Chambal	Rameshwarghat B/C and A/C Banas (Rajasthan)
10.	Parbati* (Chambal)	U/s Shivpuri - Baran Road (M.P.)
11.	Chambal	Kota - Palighat (Rajasthan) B/C Parbati

Table 5 Moderately polluted stretches (Class `C') of rivers and tributaries of Yamuna Basin (Indicator Colour - Green)

S. No.	River/ Tributaries*	Location of river stretches	TAXA/families of Benthic macro-invertebrates collected from water bodies
1.	Chambal	There are 72 stretches of rivers and tributaries in Yamuna Basin in Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh States	EPHEMEROPTERA, PLECOPTERA, TRICHOPTERA, ODONATA/ families MOLLUSCA/Viviparidae, Unionidae, Bithynidae, Thiaridae, Lymnaeidae, Planorbidae, Physidae, Sphaeridae, Hydrobiidae, Valvatidae, POLYCHAETA/Nephthyidae, Nereidae HEMIPTERA/Naucoridae, Nepidae, Hydrometridae, Belostomatidae, Pleidae, Corixidae, Gerridae, Notonectidae COLEOPTERA/Dytiscidae, Elminthidae, Psephenidae, Hygrobiidae, Hydrophilidae, Haliplidae, Gyrinidae, Dryopidae CRUSTACEA/Gammaridae, Asellidae, Atydae, Grabsidae DIPTERA/Simulidae, Tipulidae, Ephidridae, Tabanidae, Chironomidae HIRUDINEA/Erpobdellidae, Glossiphonidae OLIGOCHAETA/All families
2.	Gambhiri* (Banas*/Chambal)
3.	Hindon
4.	Dhason* (Betwa)
5.	Mandakini
6.	Sind
7.	Betwa
8.	Kali Sindh (Chambal)
9.	Bearch* (Banas*/Chambal)
10.	Kshipra* (Chambal)
11.	Alni* (Chambal)
12.	Yamuna

Table 6 Heavily polluted stretches (Class `D') of rivers and tributaries of Yamuna Basin (Indicator Colour - Orange)

S. No	River/ Tributaries*	Location of River stretches	TAXA/families of Benthic macro-invertebrates commonly collected from water bodies
1.	Khan* (Kshipra*/ Chambal)	Indore B/C Kshipra (M.P.)	MOLLUSCA, HEMIPTERA COLEOPTERA OLIGOCHAETA, DIPTERA/All families
2.	Hindon	Saharanpur to Barnawa (U.P.)
3.	Kali* (Hindon)	Muzaffarnagar (U.P.)
4.	Krishni* (Hindon)	Shamli-Muzaffarnagar Road (U.P.)
5.	Betwa	Mandideep, Bhopal (M.P.)
6.	Kalisindh (Chambal)	Kalisindh (M.P.)
7.	Chillar (Chambal)	Shajapur (M.P.)
8.	Parbati* (Chambal)	Ashtha (M.P.)

Table 7 Severely polluted stretches (Class `E') of rivers and tributaries of Yamuna Basin (Indicator Colour - Red)

S. No.	River/ Tributaries*	Location of river stretches	TAXA/families of Benthic macro-invertebrates commonly collected from water bodies
1.	Hindon	Surana u/s of Ghaziabad (U.P.)	DIPTERA/Chironomidae, Syrphidae, OLIGOCHAETA/All families
2.	Krishni* (Hindon)	Shamli-Muzaffarnagar Road (U.P.)
3.	Yamuna	Wazirabad to Okhla in Delhi
4.	Chambal	D/s Nagda (M.P.)

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