River Pollution Ramaa Ramesh XLRI

8/14/2019 River Pollution Ramaa Ramesh XLRI

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CARE - a four point sustainable solutiontackling river pollution in india

ashwamedhaignite

Ramaa Ramesh | XLRI


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RIVER POLLUTION: The situation thus far

India is home to 14 major rivers, which today share the

dubious commonality of being among the most polluted in

Asia

Over time, these once clean rivers have fallen prey to a

variety of polluters, lack of public concern and failed

government machinery and planning

The GOIs efforts in the manner of the Ganga Action Plan

and the Yamuna Action plan, to state a few, have been

uniformly unsuccessful due to a plethora of reasons

This presentation examines the sources of river pollution in

India, efforts undertaken, and the reasons for their failure,

and proposes a simple, relatively inexpensive five-pronged

sustainable strategy for the cleaning and maintenance of

river systems across the countryReferences

CAREa solution

Government Role

Causes

Sources


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Major sources of river pollution in India

POINT SOURCES OFPOLLUTION

Runoff from solid

wastes from waste

dumps; leakage from

landfill sites

Runoff from medical

wastes, including

runoff from hospitals,

health care centers

and from medical

laboratoriesRunoff from

agricultural fields and

farmland containing

a high level of

pesticides and

chemical fertilizers

Runoff from

wastes

100000 tons of

human excrement aday polluting Indian

rivers, causing great

difficulty to those

using the river water

for drinking and

bathing, as well as

holy dips etc

Cattle wallowing

also contributes

significantly to

dirtying and polluting

rivers

Open defecation

& cattle wallow

Disposal of

hundreds of burnt

and half burnthuman bodies on a

daily basis in major

rivers including the

Ganges, leading to

infection and

pollution of water

Disposal of bodies of

dead animals

including diseased

and untreated

livestock by framers

and animal breeders,

leading to infected

water

Carcass

disposal

NON POINT SOURCES OF POLLUTION

75% of all point source

pollution

Consists of untreated or poorlytreated sewage and overflow

from under-capacity sewage

treatment facilities

Municipal Sewage

25% of PSP

Hazardous solid and liquidwastes from factories

Consists of solvents, heavy

metals and radioactive

materials

Frequently enters groundwater

supplies

Industrial Pollution


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Why does pollution occur?

Free WaterUse it, Abuse it!In India, water is a free commodity, and our rivers are

too often treated as everyones right, but no ones

responsibility. Usage is indiscriminate and pollution

unchecked

In order to tackle river pollution, it is important to understand why it happens in the first place

Polluting is Inexpensive

Despite much ado about water pollution and norms,

the sad fact of the matter is that people and

companies alike know it is easy to flout the rules;

hence, they flout them with scant regard for laws

No Accountability

1200 crores and not 1 cusec of cleaned water to show

for it from the Yamuna Action Plan. Our government

is as irresponsible and unaccountable as industrial

polluters.


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Key Governmental initiatives

Yamuna Action

Plan

The largest river conservation plan of its kind in India, it is also deemed a

failure thus far with the government officially that it will be unable to clean up

the Yamuna before the Commonwealth Games and that another 7-8 are

needed

Under failure for not being able to clean even one cusec of water despite over

Rs. 1200 crore in expenditure Status: failure

National River

Conservation

Plan (NCRP)

A flagship scheme of Govt. of India, Ministry of Environment & Forest for

abatement of pollution and conservation of rivers in the country

Currently projects for cleaning two rivers in MP are in progress

While the scheme is a step in the right direction, too often governmental

inefficiencies and delay as well as public unconcern and lack of participation

hinder serious progress Status: in limbo

Ganga Action

Plan (GAP)

Launched in 1986 by GOI with the broad aim of abating pollution and

improving water quality

Lack of prior experience in implementing a project of this scale, inordinate

delays, bureaucratic red tape, inefficiency and local body unconcern as well

as non-release of funds by state governments have been described as some of

the causes for the failure of the GAP

Status: failure


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CARE- A four point solution

WHAT IS CARE?

CARE is a four point solution that focuses on a localized citizens movement initiativeinvolving the use of low cost technology to combat river pollution and work in tandem with

government bodies. The four interrelated aspects of CARE are Citizenship(C). Available

Technology (A) and Riverkeepers (R) and Enforcing Norms(E).

WHY CARE?

The idea behind CARE is that in a country the size of India, it is near impossible to bring about

any large scale change without citizen awareness support. The central theme is the usage of

available low cost technologies to effectively reduce pollution and revive clogged rivers; while

at the same time enforcing the Polluter Pays principle where upstream users are excessively

fined to compensate downstream users in case of excessive pollution.

HOW DOES CARE WORK?

CARE works as a integrated process where each step

complements the next. Together, the four steps CARE

take care of both cleaning and maintaining clean river

AvailableTechnology

RiverkeepersEnforcing

Accountability

CitizensInitiative


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1. Citizens Initiatives

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

In each locality along a river or using a river, the river is divided into stretches of

approximately 20 km, and citizens rights groups are formed consisting of people those whouse the river for drinking water, bathing, or other purposes.

These people will now be responsible for systematically ensuring the cleaning up of the

river in small batches, and ensuring that waste is not dumped into the river at its source.

One simple way is to collect and dispose the waste that is dumped on river banks before it

enters the water.

WHY WILL THIS WORK?A citizens initiative is not only a powerful tool that collectivizes interested parties and

harnesses the power of the people; considering the enormity of the task of cleaning long

stretches of rivers, it becomes necessary that huge numbers of people engage themselves in

the movement.

WHAT DOES IT REQUIRE?

Awareness: Much of the pollution happening comes from households and open defecationas well as discarding carcasses. To prevent these instances from occurring or at least to

narrow down their frequency, awareness needs to be built into the system. The best way to

do this would be by involving citizens themselves into the movement.

Reward: The Government for its part should encourage such citizens activist groups from

time to time with tangible monetary and other awards. Given such encouragement, there is

a high chance that the level of pollution in rivers can be brought down with concerted effort.


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2. Available , low cost Technology

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

Simple technology that we use in our daily lives can be a very powerful tool to tackle the

issue of river pollution, and reduce the dependence on tradition water-harming chemical

treatment.

One idea suggested here, inspired by NRI scientist Subijoy Dutta, is that air diffusers and

simple floating or stationary aerosols be immersed in rivers along these 20 km stretches,

which can be operated using pumps or generators. This regenerates the oxygen content in

the water and improve levels of Biological Oxygen Demand.

HOW COST EFFECTIVE IS IT?

According to Dutta, a simple diffuser would cost around Rs. 20000 and could be

immersed in rivers from point to point.

Even taking into account the highly polluted stretches of major rivers, the cost would

not exceed or even equal that of the various river plans, which have failed to yield anyresult whatsoever.

WHAT DOES IT REQUIRE?

Minimal investment in available technologies

Government funding and encouragement of organizations like CSIR and private bodies


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Riverkeepers

Riverkeepers are ordinary citizens who assume the role of river-keepers literally,

they will patrol and guard the river to ensure that people and industries are notpolluting the river or releasing toxic material and substances into the river. It is a

hugely successful concept in the West, but a relatively new idea to India.

These river-keepers are educated well regarding the dos and donts of river usage.

The moment they spot any discrepancy, they alert the authorities. They can also be

legally given the right to take certain actions against those caught polluting.

Enforcing Norms

The Polluter Pays principle states that people pay for what they use; and those who

pollute must pay for it- not the rest of society. Usage of water in general must be taxedhigher; and upstream users, especially large-scale industrial polluters need to be taxed

accordingly and fined at an increasing rate for higher levels for what they pollute in

order to compensate downstream users.

This policy reduces pollution, supplements the CAR strategies and completes the four

stage CARE model.


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http://www.ecofriends.org/main/eganga/images/Critical%20analysis%20of%20GAP.pdf

http://sify.com/news/nri-scientist-offers-solution-to-clean-yamuna-news-national-

jegmvIejcji.html

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http://www.cleanganga.com/articles/4.php

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cant-clean-up-yamuna-before-the-games-says-

sheila/480493/0

http://www.potomacriverkeeper.org/what-we-do?task=blogsection

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River Pollution Ramaa Ramesh XLRI

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