After a long while, the river Yamuna is flowing full and cleaner at this time of the year. 

The nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic has marked improvement in the quality of air and water including the Yamuna turning cleaner and transparent.

River toxic wastes not being discharged into Yamuna: Raghav Chadha

“Because of the lockdown, everything including the industrial units are closed leading to an improvement in water quality of the Yamuna in Delhi NCR. River toxic wastes and effluents are not being discharged into it,â€_x009d_ said vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board Raghav Chadha.

"Many industries and offices are closed due to the lockdown these days and therefore the Yamuna is looking cleaner these days. The stoppage of industrial pollutants and industrial waste has definitely had a positive effect on water quality. We will conduct testing of the water to ascertain the percentage of improvement in the quality," he added.

Yamuna remained polluted for the longest time

Yamuna river, 2nd largest tributary of Ganga, for years has remained polluted due to bathing, throwing flowers, garlands and other worship material as well as the industrial effluent. 

During Chhat Puja, last year, millions of devotees prayed standing knee-deep in a foaming, polluted Yamuna river.

But after the lockdown, people cannot stop sharing videos and pictures of the water body, because it looks sparkling clean!

Ganga also sees improvement

The quality of water of the Ganga river has also seen a significant improvement, experts say.

We have seen a 40-50 percent improvement in the Ganga. It is a significant development," Dr. PK Mishra, Professor at Chemical Engineering and Technology, IIT-BHU, said.

"Due to rainfall on March 15-16 in areas where Ganga flows, the water level has also increased, which means that its cleaning capacity has also increased. There is a considerable improvement if we look at the pre-lockdown period and after March 24," he added.