“The water of Yamuna has become dirty and its level has also dipped in the past few years. We earlier used river water, but due to the dirt we got a bore pump installed two years ago. We use it for drinking and farming,” said Shiv Prasad, a 50-year-old farmer who lives near Majnu Ka Tila.

His family of eight depends on the spinach, coriander, fenugreek and mustard crops he grows on his five-bigha land taken on lease. The family is among thousands directly affected by the Yamuna’s depleting water quality as the river meets the city.

The Yamuna originates from the Yamunotri glacier in the Himalayas and merges into Ganga in Prayagraj. Travelling about 1,400 km through several states, the river flows for 22 km in Delhi – this accounts for two percent of its total distance but nearly 76 percent of its pollution.

Traversing these 22 km in Delhi, from Wazirabad to Okhla, Newslaundry tried to look at the state of the river amid attempts by the central and Delhi governments to clean it up.