Dependants of the waters: Rehabilitation of water bodies

‘Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.’ is a famous quote from ‘The rhime of the ancient mariner’ by Samuel Coleridge about an old sailor who was compelled to tell strangers about the supernatural adventures that befell him at sea after he killed an albatross, a friendly sea bird. The albatross was a symbol of everything natural;the supernatural adventures of the eighteenth century havealready become part of our daily struggle for existence. Ever increasing city population industrialization and the depleting water resources warn us of the dark future.

Lakes in Bangalore, Karnataka were numerous, and were once the life blood of the landlocked city. The effect of urbanization has taken some heavy toll on the beautiful lakes in the city which have been largely encroached for urban infrastructure and as result, in the heart of the city only a few remain of which some are getting ready to be converted to bus stands, golf courses, playgrounds and residential colonies, or fall prey to disease control programmes. And the news of toxic froth formation from the lakes being a not so strange breaking news to us at present.

Our needs are to be met, but it is not worthy to risk the natural biodiversity of the resources to meet the needs of man. There were men who single handed cleaned entire lakes in days. There are associations of people who had come up together to clean tonnes of garbage that reach the river mouths and forests. There are photographers and artists who spread the awareness messages to people. More than what they do, they inspire the world around them. They are the culture shifters. But is that all what we can do?

Quality fresh water supply system is the umbilical cord of every city. Cities and towns are challenging themselves and setting up rain water harvesting facilities in each building, but the usability of these infrastructure once constructed goes long forgotten and end up being the breeding houses to mosquitoes and epidemics unless properly engineered. Rehabilitation of the supply system is a costly affair. It is the duty of every citizen to maintain the water supply system in good shape. Independent audits on water usage, training and awareness on the judicial usage of water systems can help us with achieving our goal of providing accessibility to good drinking water to a larger public. At this times of open source information and high quality information accessible to all, innovations can reach far and beyond through the social media and internet.

Even the spiritual gurus like Sadguru had initiated drives like ‘Rally for Rivers’ to bring awareness to the people of India that our rivers are depleting at alarming levels and that our rivers need to be revived by planting trees on either side of the rivers. We had ‘Narmada BachhaoAndholan’ led by MedhaPadkar and other activists who had brought in international attention to the atrocities of the river Narmada and the surrounding ecosystem. The current union Ministry became the first one in the history to have a cabinet minister solely for the rejuvenation of a river – we created sewage treatment facilities to clean up the heavily polluted water resource and use it, we formed committees chaired by the Prime Minister to meet and discuss the ways and means to improve the quality of the river Ganges.

The natural fresh water bodies should have water that sustain biodiversity, provide the ecosystem service of ''open space," and also allow for economic development along its banks – that’s where the ancient civilizations sprouted, there lie our roots.

The recipe for the rehabilitation of the dying water bodies is the four step methodology as follows:

(1) Water allocation - A procedure of water allocation to the river should be completed, and the discharge of the allocated water should proceed; Treating all the water in the name of human health will destroy the biodiversity. Studies should be carried out and fruitful results that point out to what portion of the capacity of the resource maybe tapped should be established.

(2) Catch them at the source - Point pollution sources along the river course should be removed, and at the same time nonpoint pollution sources should be identified and controlled;

(3) Secondary treatment - Measures for secondary treatment of sewage sources should be taken; any water left out to the water bodies should be treated and tested to maintain parameters within prescribed limits and strict compliances to the set norms are to be ensured.

(4) Tertiary treatment - Tertiary treatment should be applied, and facilities for pooling wastewater to control the flow of the river should be constructed and operated. The in and out flows of water to and from the water body should be religiously engineered and monitored.

The day we feel a sense of belongingness towards the planet and its resources, we will feel the necessity to preserve our water bodies. Our ancestors valued them and worshipped them in them as Goddesses, the same light shall lead us to a sustainable living in terms of efficient management of water resources. There is no day better than today. So let’s hold hands to start today and be the wave of change.