'To Be or Not To Be' - The question our rivers are asking

You would have heard stories from your father about he going to swim in river streams on sunny afternoons during his summer vacations. You would have also heard stories from your grandmother about she plucking fruits and flowers from trees along the rivers. Our grandparents, parents all were connected with the river, to be precise rivers or water bodies were an integral part of their daily routine. But where have they gone today? Have we become so busy or the rivers where we can swim are lost somewhere? Or our deeds have forced them to ask us the question ‘To Be or Not To Be’. This column attempts to answer its readers where have we as a human race have gone wrong in addressing the nature’s concerns and how we as the most intelligent animals can correct our wrong deeds.

The river flow is a framework which interconnects people, places, different forms of life and simultaneously inspiring & sustaining diverse cultural beliefs, values and ways of life. There are castes in India which are completely dependant on the rivers for their livelihood. They earn their daily bread through the river economy. The community’s dependency on river economy is diverse and inter-dependant exposing its economic, cultural, identity and spiritual linkages. Rivers and its tributaries are the biggest source of freshwater for urban areas. A close study of ancient civilizations and current metros shows us that all of them are located along a major perineal river or a huge water body. These rivers have seen the city grow leaps and bounds and they have played a role in its growth too! But have we given them the credit for what they deserve? The rivers are not just an asset of the area through which they flow, but they are the national asset.

Our rivers which were earlier home to the water creatures are now home to toxic pollutants. Toxic industrial waste mixed with domestic sewerage have destroyed the riverine ecosystem. River banks which were home to rich flora and fauna are now home to encroached concrete jungles. Tributaries or streams / nallahs which met the rivers are either encroached by concrete embankments or are covered using pipelines. Human greed for wealth increased to such an extent that we created lands by encroaching riverbeds. Wide riverbanks were decreased to mere streams, perennial rivers were succumbed to torrential streams and the river sand was excavated illegally as a construction material. In satisfying our needs we have clearly ignored the river’s call to help and survival.

It is not that nothing has been done to save the rivers, but the efforts taken are nothing against the damage done and efforts taken are very localised which have failed to understand the nature of river flow and environment. Sabarmati riverfront is always considered as a case study in river conservation and beautification, which many cities try to replicate but what they fail to understand is that river flow in Sabarmati was ensured right from Narmada to Gulf of Khambhat. An integrated and holistic view was taken in conserving the river and not localised interventions. Particularly in Maharashtra, municipal corporations take care of the river flowing through their jurisdiction by constructing water treatment plants and sewage treatment plants. But a lot of untreated sewage is directly released in the river once the river flows out of the municipal boundary. Here the adjoining villages suffer which do not have the resources or the capacity to treat the water.

Here metropolitan planning comes into picture. A metropolitan area is any area having a population of more than 1 million, consisting of two or more municipalities and which may span over multiple districts. The 74th Amendment Act mandated the setting up of Metropolitan Planning Committees (MPC) in all metropolitan areas. Its objective was to prepare Draft Development Plans with due regards to be given for coordinated spatial planning, mutual sharing of resources, development of common infrastructure, and environmental conservation. These Committees comprise of elected members from the municipalities and panchayats constituting the metropolitan area as well as representation from the state and central governments to bring about coordination among the multiple authorities in a metropolitan area. Environmental degradation is not limited to a specific area and thus should be seen as a global responsibility rather than a local function. Multi-lateral interventions, inter-government coordination and public support is required to bring the rivers back to their lives and metropolitan areas are best equipped to address them.

To understand how were the rivers, what have we done to them and what can be done to improve the situation let us quickly visit Nashik where the river Godavari originates. Godavari originates from Trimbakeshwar and flows south-east through the districts of Nashik, Aurangabad and Nanded in Maharashtra. The river is also called as Dakshin-Ganga (Southern Ganges). Nashik is first major city along Godavari and also the point where Kumbh Mela is held every 12 years. Godavari is the trunk and its various tributaries such as the Nandini, Waghadi and Aruna confluence with it at various points in Nashik city. All these tributaries flow through the city and the point where they meet Godavari are of spiritual significance. This river system traverses the city North-South and East-West. Canals have also been built from these rivers for water supply to agriculture and drinking purposes. Thus, a natural water distribution and drainage system was well established in the city of Nashik.

Nashik became a municipal corporation in 1982. Two industrial estates were also set-up in the city which soon generated huge incomes and a population influx. To cater to increasing demand, dams were built across the river to fulfil drinking water needs. This affected the perennial water flow of Godavari. To make land available at prime locations, tributaries of Godavari were encroached and embanked with concrete to construct plazas and shopping complexes. The tributaries were choked near their origin and the water diverted to dams and reservoirs. Thus, more land of the tributary flow was encroached to construct buildings. Canals were filled with construction debris and natural flow of water was blocked. To cater to large number of devotees during the Kumbh, river bed of Godavari was concretized and new ghats were constructed. In the process natural underground springs (kunds) were filled with concrete and closed. Drainage lines were directly released into the river. This not only polluted the river but also made its flow stagnant. All this construction and diversion of natural water flow came to light during the frequent flash floods occurring in the city. Reduced water handling capacity of the river due to concretization and silting, obstruction in natural flow due to encroachments and pollution due to untreated sewage and stagnant flow increased the intensity of destruction due to these floods. Grey water bruising out of drainage chambers below the plazas and shopping complex damaged parked cars and even the structure. Lack of planning controls along water bodies and lack of awareness for environmental conservation are the main reasons for this man-made disaster.

The time is not gone yet. Proper planning regulations mixed with the will to rejuvenate our rivers and its ecosystem through metropolitan areas can give us the desired results. Water bodies are our assets for economic development and its maintenance can be a source of income generation through tourism, agriculture, transport for the metropolitan area. The river bed should be desilted, banks widened and obstructions removed for water to flow freely. Kunds of Godavari need to be rejuvenated and concrete removed to avoid man-made flooding. Geological mapping of the river bed needs to be conducted to identify underground water tables and these areas need to be conserved. The tributaries of Godavari need to be re-dug and made to flow smoothly again. Dense plantation of indigenous trees and shrubs needs to be undertaken on a war footing along 5m buffer on both the banks of Godavari and its tributaries. Old canal roads need to be reconstructed and transit-oriented development (TOD) along with Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on these routes should be implemented. The revenue generated from TOD and BRTS needs to be used in maintenance of the canals, rivers and its tributaries. The canal roads will not only improve North-South and East-West connectivity of the city but the roads will also act as a buffer between the water bodies and the civil constructions. When all this would be done in the metropolitan region the economic linkages would get strong and the river would flow smoothly and without obstructions to the next region. Since most of the villages are located along the river, they can travel to the city using the river-road and thus infrastructure expenditure on road construction can also be reduced to a large extent. This way rivers can again lease a new life to the hectic living and stressed time tables of metropolitan areas.

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green infrastructureriver beautificationenvironmental plannningcomprehensive environmental plan
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