Environmental pollution and sustainable restoration of the Yamuna River: A review of water quality, health risks, and phycoremediation

Abstract

The Yamuna River, one of India's most significant river systems and the largest tributary of the Ganges River, serves critical ecological, socio‐economic, and cultural functions. However, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and intensive agriculture have severely degraded its water quality, resulting in extensive pollution with untreated sewage, industrial effluents, agricultural runoff, and solid waste. Heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, and nickel accumulate in sediments and water, acting as “chemical time bombs” and causing a range of public health impacts, including neurological disorders, renal and liver damage, cancer, gastrointestinal illnesses, and waterborne infections from bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and parasitic worms. Diseases prevalent in the Delhi region include cholera, typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis A and B, poliomyelitis, Amebic dysentery, Giardiasis, Cryptosporidium infections, Schistosomiasis, and Ancylostomiasis. The review synthesizes literature on the river's hydrological importance, pollution sources (point and non‐point), heavy metal contamination, ecological impacts, and water quality trends, including seasonal and post‐COVID‐19 variations. It highlights phycoremediation as a sustainable wastewater treatment strategy capable of reducing nutrients, heavy metals, and toxic contaminants while improving dissolved oxygen levels. The findings underscore the urgent need for integrated wastewater management, regulatory enforcement, and community participation to restore the Yamuna River, protect public health, and prevent further ecological collapse.