Chasing treatment plants, not sewage

But government sweeps over

In Delhi, nobody knows!

The planning mess must change

What is the quality of treatment in sewage plants?

This investigation into Delhi's underbelly began with a visit to a sewage treatment plant located in the eastern part of the city, situated between a highly congested and relatively poorer part of

The current pipe-drains-plant strategy is not working. Therefore, more of the same, without reworking its approach, will mean just more money down the drain.

The Yamuna is Delhi's shame. But its pollution management is its government's shame. It cannot be acceptable that we have spent money, time and energy, but have so little.

• Ensure all waste, legal and illegal, is trapped and treated to keep the drain clean
• Augment and optimise treatment facilities, where needed, to treat this waste. Appropriate technologies of scale (centralised or local) should be adopted
• Ensure treated effluent is reused and not mixed with untreated effluent before it flows to river

This is a story about Delhi and the Yamuna, about the relationship between one of India’s richest cities and one of her most revered rivers. The plot is an economical one: the Yamuna stretches 22 kilometres along Delhi, but after Rs 55 crore to Rs 75 cror