Coronavirus: Has India's Yamuna River gotten cleaner during lockdown?

Pictures of the Yamuna River from India looking cleaner are circulating online and officials have said that the closure of industries has a role to play.

Social media users shared pictures of how the river that flows through several states in India currently looks like amid the coronavirus lockdown in the country.

Many even shared pictures of it from the past, comparing the pollution levels.

Tweep @SudhaRamenIFS shared two pictures and wrote: “Look this is possible! Pictures of Yamuna River are going viral. 2019 the river frothed and the river is all blue now with a clean sky. Do we learn something here?”

User @bhishamsingh24 posted a video and wrote: “Yamuna River in Delhi, how clean. Human intervention adversely affecting the ecosystem. We stopped intervention due to lockdown & see there was no need to treat the Yamuna water.”

Twitter user @IamMayank_ posted: “Have been eagerly waiting to see #Yamuna River like this. #CleanYamuna #Delhi”

According to a report by India-based television news channel, NDTV, the closure of industrial units in the National Capital Region during the lockdown led to an improvement in water quality of the river.

The amount of toxic waste being dumped into it has greatly decreased, said vice-chairman of Delhi Jal Board Raghav Chadha. The Jal Board is an Indian government agency responsible for supply of drinkable water to the most of the National Capital Territory region of Delhi.

"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," Chadha was quoted as saying.

However, not all parts of the river seem to have changed. Some netizens have shared pictures of the pollution remaining the same.

Tweep @Ajatikaa shared a picture and wrote: “People are reporting how the quality of Yamuna River has improved in past few days due two lockdown henceforth less pollution. Unfortunately reality is unaltered. Yamuna continues to be polluted as before and it needs to get rid of toxic foam on its surface. Picture on right was clicked today.”

India is currently under a 21-day lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since March 24.