3. India is a land of so many rivers, helping us in irrigation, producing electricity and fresh
water. Write an article for the Eco -Club magazine of your school, discussing about the
importance and condition of rivers today
Answers
Answer: A Composite Water Management Index, published in June 2018, more than 600 million people in India face high to extreme water crisis in the country. About three-fourth of the households in the country do not have drinking water on their premises.
With nearly 70% of water being contaminated, India is placed 120th amongst 122 countries in the water quality index. On World Environment Day, we present a reality check on some of the mighty rivers of India, and the dire straits they are in. The Ganga river holds deep religious significance in India with thousands thronging the Ganga’s ghats (banks) every year to bathe and offer prayers. But the alarming levels of pollutants and sewage waste that are discharged into it every day by over 1100 industrial units and several towns situated on its banks, have made it one of the most polluted rivers in the world. A recent report by the Central Pollution Control Board declared that the Ganga water is unfit for bathing, let alone drinking directly. Recently the National Green Tribunal, the apex environmental monitoring body, also directed Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar to deposit Rs. 25 lakhs each for not taking adequate steps to curb pollution in the Ganga. Despite launching several clean-up programmes like the Ganga Action Plan I and II and the present government’s Namami Ganga project, little groundwork has been done to restore the river’s lost glory.
The 2900-km long river and Assam’s lifeline, the Brahmaputra, today is reeling under water pollution in the form of sewage waste and oil discharge. Rapid urbanisation and lack of efficient waste disposal systems have now rendered it lifeless. A recent report states that at least 28 kms of the river stretch in Assam is heavily polluted. However, efforts to clean up the river is mired in political blame-games and diplomatic issues with China. The Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments have accused China’s dam building activities on the border of polluting the Siang waters, which flow through southern Tibet and become the Brahmaputra in Assam.he Yamuna, which was once the lifeline of Delhi and one of India’s most sacred rivers, has also been reduced to being one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Choking with heavy metal discharges and peak levels of Coliform, a disease- causing bacteria, the Yamuna water is extremely unsafe for consumption. Over 22 drains dump sewage and industrial waste into the water every year and there is a glaring absence of adequate sewer networks, according to a report by a Monitoring Committee appointed by the NGT. Despite the ambitious Yamuna Action Plans which were launched in the 1990s and the Uttar Pradesh government and the Central government joining hands to stem the rot, pollution levels have not been curbed and are even expected to rise, experts say.
Flowing through Hyderabad, the Musi river divides the historic old city and the new city. The Musi riverfront, which was inspired by London’s Thames during the Nizam’s rule, is now a dumping ground for many and slowly disappearing due to a heavy drought. People have started digging pits in Musi’s dry riverbeds amid critical water shortages. Rapid urbanisation and scores of chemical and drug companies that sprang up in and around Hyderabad under the ‘Genome Valley Project’ of 1999 had also reduced it to one of the most polluted rivers in the country, choking with untreated chemical and sewage waste and debris. Attempts by consecutive governments to clean up the river have fallen flat. A report by the Telangana State Pollution Control Board reveals that the levels of coliform bacteria haven’t changed much since 2007, and may have also increased in some cases.