All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Rejuvenation of Our Rivers: A Dire Need

Indian rivers are the roots of Indian civilization and culture. Our ancient civilization flourished in the North on the fertile lands of Indus, Sutlej and Sarasvati Rivers; and in the South near the banks of Krishna, Cauvery and Godavari. Rivers of North and South, both, have nurtured the entire country for thousands of years. However, since the past two generations these rivers have been polluted. All the dirty sewage water merges with these rivers, making river water impure. In fact these rivers are losing their existence due to lack of proper care.

Most of our rivers have dried up at many places. Indus and Ganges rivers are listed in top ten most polluted rivers of the world. Our physical body is composed of different systems such as circulatory, respiratory, digestive systems. The circulatory system contains veins and arteries, which help in circulating blood in all the parts of our physical body and provides life force. Our rivers flowing in different parts of India are the arteries and veins of the country which provide water to all the residents of the country and help in quenching their thirst and providing energy as well.

Like the blood of our physical body, on getting contaminated with toxins, bacteria or viruses, results in the manifestation of different kinds of diseases; similarly polluted water around the country can harm us in many ways. River water not only feeds human beings but also birds, animals and plants. Cattles drinking polluted water give milk, which can have bacteria and viruses; crops in the farms can get contaminated in a similar way with dirty water and eventually we human beings can catch many kinds of diseases by consuming milk, vegetables or polluted water. Polluted water can cause tremendous damage to the environment and spread diseases, which might result in unnatural calamities.

In today’s world, most of the rivers and natural springs have dried up. Few of them, which have survived, have polluted water. In the past couple of years, underground water has also reduced rapidly in our country. Only 22% of clean water is remaining. If we do not pay attention to our rivers, we will be left with only 7% of total water required for our day to day survival by the year 2022-2025. All the rivers, which used to be the source of sustaining life, had been overflowing in India from times immemorial, but now they don’t have enough water; they overflow only during rainy season. During winter and summer, the situation of these rivers becomes worrisome. Cauvery River in Tamil Nadu has a stretch of about 430 km. However during summer, its water level goes so low that it does not reach the Sea. Cauvery is seen mixing with Sea water only in the rainy season for two to three months. Due to this, a dispute has arisen on the use of Cauvery waters between Karnataka and Tami Nadu.

It has to be realized that we cannot change the climatic conditions for our rivers to make them flow in natural way. However, we can certainly make dams and keep them clean for our better future. One easy way to save rivers is to plant many trees on the riversides. We think that trees are surviving because of rivers, but truth is the opposite; rivers are surviving because of trees. At present, most of the existing land near rivers is used for farming. Therefore, trees should be planted at a distance of about 1 km from the banks of large rivers and ½ km distance from small rivers, instead of planting trees very near to the rivers. The factors responsible for pollution of river waters should be eliminated. First major action should be to stop the flow of sewage water into the rivers and keep the banks of the rivers clean. During rainy season, all the dirty water, containing plastics and other garbage, flowing into the rivers, not only creates hurdle for natural flow of our rivers but pollute them.

Clean river water campaigns at local level should be initiated like the Kuttamperoor stream rejuvenation in Kerala. The Kuttamperoor was once a full 12 kilometers long and over 100 feet wide river. For over two decades, the Kuttamperoor lay neglected and abused and, by 2005, it had been reduced to a marshy, polluted cesspool perhaps 10-15 feet wide, with patchy water and almost no flow. Budhanur gram panchayat in Alappuzha district took initiative in transforming it again as a flowing river, thanks to the commitment of 700 local men and women who worked to bring the river back to life under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

On similar lines, resuscitation of Banas River in west Rajasthan has been taken up by the volunteers of All World Gayatri Pariwar (Pushkar zone). Instead of waiting for the Government to do something for the rivers, the local folk should gather courage to rejuvenate the nearby rivulets, water tanks, wells and other water bodies. Where there is will, there is a way.

The same strategy may not work for all the villages or towns; the locals should make their own plan for rejuvenating the water resources as they are the people who are going to be benefitted by it.