NEW DELHI: In an attempt to further reduce pollutants in the drains, the Delhi government is constructing low-cost checkdams and weirs across major drains in the national capital. Officials said these small and low-cost checkdams will be coming up on three drains Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahdara drains falling into the Yamuna.
"These weirs will reduce pollutant load and promote natural treatment of wastewater in the flowing drains by 70-80 per cent," said an official. Small low-cost check dams are basically net-like structures which are placed over waterbodies.
They help collect bigger garbage that flows through the canal into rivers and then into the sea. The more garbage is collected, the more filtration happens. "These are inexpensive and easy to install and help in recharge of groundwater aquifers," noted the official. Other benefits of checkdams include prevention of gully erosion.
If carefully set up, some these checkdams can become permanent installations with very minor degrading. Earlier, the state had built over 70 checkdams in the catchment areas of Asola Bhatti sanctuary and the southern and central ridges to conserve water.