Cauliflower cultivation rises in Delhi's Dichaon Kalan, but farming near toxic drain water raises concerns

Bhim Singh Rawat, a Yamuna activist and member of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, says the drains carry a mix of sewage and industrial effluents, complicating the environmental and health risk profile for crops along the Najafgarh drain.

Experts say the dependence on drain water stems from a lack of proper irrigation canals or alternative clean sources; Paras Tyagi of NGO CYCLE India notes that without canals, farmers are compelled to use polluted water.

A 2020 study titled 'Assessment of Drain Water Used for Irrigation in the Delhi Region', published in JH&P, concludes that consumption of heavy-metal-contaminated agricultural products can cause deleterious health effects, underscoring potential long-term risks for consumers.

IIT-Delhi researchers have, over the past decade, detected heavy metals such as chromium, copper, cadmium, zinc, nickel and lead in the Najafgarh drain at concentrations up to 50 times FAO limits across five locations, rendering the water unsuitable for irrigation.

During a visit, dozens of irrigation pipes were seen entering the Najafgarh drain from multiple fields, with over 10 pipes in a 50-meter stretch pumping untreated drain water into adjacent fields on both sides.

In neighboring Jharoda Kalan, fields feature stretches of cauliflower and cabbage, with farmer Babloo Kumar noting that salinity is so high that some farmers rely on drain water for irrigation, reflecting wider regional practices.

Residents describe Dichaon Kalan’s transformation into a cauliflower hub over roughly the past 15 to 20 years, with truckloads of cauliflower traveling to markets across Delhi—Najafgarh, Okhla, Azadpur, and beyond—driven by a broader shift toward this crop.

Meena Kumari, 40, recounts a January breach in the drain during heavy rains that inundated her fields. She says the crop grew in the floodwater, but describes the water as terrible and stinking, illustrating ongoing water quality issues affecting agriculture in the area.

Borewells remain the main irrigation source for many farms, but the nearby Mungeshpur drain, a tributary of the Najafgarh drain with an industrial effluent-laden appearance, provides a fallback for fields where groundwater is saline. Some farmers resort to drain water, despite its poor quality, due to groundwater salinity concerns.

In a 20-acre field in southwest Delhi’s Dichaon Kalan, Pramod Mandal, 50, stacks freshly harvested cauliflowers onto a truck bound for mandis in Keshopur or Azadpur. The operation runs with a ladder on the truck and workers passing up baskets, with nearly 30 quintals of produce headed to market. Mandal pays ₹70,000 annually to lease the land and earns about ₹15,000 per truck, roughly ₹5 lakh in profit each year. He notes cauliflower’s hardiness and good yield as reasons for its prominence in the area.