New Delhi: Even though people had high hopes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan', there has not been much change in the condition of river Yamuna in the national capital. According to a survey done by The Energy and Research Institute (TERI), 99% feel that the water of Yamuna was not safe for drinking without treatment.
Nearly 90% of the people surveyed identified increased human activity as the main cause for changing climate patterns in the city. While 68% people felt that environmental protection and development go hand in hand, 95% considered the city sewerage a threat to the rivers.
With temperature hovering above 45 degree Celsius during summer, 89% claimed that they observed an increase in temperature, while 93% felt that they had witnessed a decrease in rainfall over the last five years.
Meanwhile, 93% of the respondents agreed that the quality of the environment had an immediate impact on their health.
The survey assessed the perception of the people about the overall quality of river water. While 92% felt that the condition of river Yamuna was poor, only 5% of them felt that it was fair and less than 1% felt it to be good.
Nearly 67% of the people perceived the water colour of the Yamuna to have worsened over the last five years and 64% felt the same for odour in surrounding areas of the river. Even 62% perceived that the presence of fish to have worsened in the river, greenery along the banks by 53% and presence of birds and animals around the river by 63%, over the last five years.
But less than 3% felt an improvement in these indicators and over 25% of the respondents indicated no change in these indicators.
The survey revealed that 47% held industries, factories and NGOs responsible for the quality and hygiene of the river, 30% held citizens and 22% local government/municipal corporation.
Keeping in the view the overall impact on the environment, over 60% perceived deterioration in air quality, followed by 27% of the respondents feeling no change, and 10% who felt it to have improved.
The survey said that 82% of the respondents strongly linked the impact of climate change on humans, and 8% ‘somewhat’ agreed on the same. The survey revealed that 68% felt an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and floods.
With 47% believing that polices to address air pollution exist but are either not implemented well or are inadequate, 26% felt that there are no polices and only 12% felt that policies were well implemented.
With increasing awareness among people, 93% agreed that the quality of the environment had an immediate impact on health and 51% recognized air quality as the issue with the most visible impact on health, followed by water quality (40%) and waste (9%).
A total of 3016 people were surveyed and were from different age groups, occupation, and educational background and income levels.
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