Vegetables washed in highly-polluted Yamuna could kill you
Growing or washing vegetables in polluted Yamuna water is as bad as feeding poison to people. Because, 22 major drains fall into Yamuna and several factories drain their effluents into it.
Winter is the season of vegetables, when all you want are green, leafy and vitamin-rich items on your plate. But if you are not alert enough while stocking up on the veggies, your plans for a healthy diet might just backfire.
Most of the vegetables being sold at Delhi's wholesale markets are washed in the toxic water of the Yamuna, described by some as a "glorified drain". Others are grown in the bed of trash along it, and both kinds pose danger to your health.
Be it the markets at ITO and Nizamuddin Bridge or the makeshift markets that sprout at different points in the city every week-the risk is real everywhere. Experts say consumption of these vegetables can lead to a variety of illnesses. The diseases don't show up immediately, they could manifest themselves years later.
Alarming
TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) carried out a study in 2012 that analysed samples of Yamuna water collected from 13 different villages and colonies on the river's 22-km stretch. It found that levels of lead, nickel, manganese, chromium and zinc in the river's waters were way higher than the international quality standards for fresh water.
The National Reference Trace Organics Laboratory had also conducted a study the same year that found Lindane, a carcinogen, in the waters of Yamuna. After this, the Delhi government had suggested that it may ban farming on the banks. However, nothing was heard on it thereafter.
Researcher Dunu Roy of Hazard Centre says: "Depending on the point in the course of the river where the vegetables are grown or washed, they will pick up different life-threatening contaminants. Wazirabad, which is, in fact, considered to be the cleanest point in Yamuna's course in Delhi, is laden with fertiliser and pesticide run-off from UP and Haryana. Vegetables here will obviously contain toxic fertiliser and pesticide remains."
"At ITO, the ash leachate from Rajghat's thermal power plants leaves the river infested with heavy metals. At Okhla, the river is loaded with sewage; vegetables grown or washed here will be ridden with Fecal Coliform bacteria that are found in human and animal waste."
Researcher Rajiv Betne says: "Twenty-two major drains fall into Yamuna, including 18 major ones and four from Agra and Gurgaon. As much as 1,360 million litres of sewage water flows into the river per day, mainly from Najafgarh drain. An array of factories, from tanneries to steel pickling units, drains their effluents into it. Growing or washing vegetables in this water is as bad as feeding poison to people with full knowledge of what we are doing."
Diseases
Dr D.K. Bhargava, Senior Consultant, Gastroenterology, Apollo Hospital informs: "Consuming water with even trace amount of sewage will cause a variety of digestive disorders such as cholera and diarrhoea besides Helicobacter pylori infection which leads to gastritis, ulcer of the stomach and small intestine."
Environmentalist Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan says, "Unfortunately, there are issues of livelihood involved. We cannot make farmers leave this place. Farming has been going on Yamuna plains for millennia. The root problem is pollution of the river which is manifesting itself in different ways such as poisoning of vegetables. Yamuna cannot be allowed to stay polluted."