The story of a river turned sewer

Priyanka Jain, Delhi Community Manager

 

In Indic mythology, there once was a time when cowherds had shunned the water in the bend of the holy River Yamuna near Vrindaban. The water had become lethal due to the poison spat out each day by a dreaded, multi-hooded snake called Kaliyā. One day Krisha, an incarnation of divine god Vishnu, danced on the hood of Kaliyā. The dance subdued the serpent and it left for the ocean on the command of Krishna. Today, another "Kaliyā" treads the water of the River Yamuna. The lack of political will and concern on the part of the civilian population has made the water lethal and shriveled the river's ecosystem.

The River Yamuna originates at the Yamunotri Glacier in the Himalayas. It travels for 1,376 km through the Ganga River Basin before joining the River Ganges and flowing into the Indian Ocean. But within a distance of 224 km from its source the river is dissected at five barrages and 90 percent of its water is diverted for irrigation and domestic uses. The ever-growing need for more water gulps down every single drop of water in the River Yamuna before it leaves Delhi. Whatever flows in the downstream of Wazirabad barrage — where the river enters the capital — is the untreated or partially treated wastewater. The toxins have polluted the ground water and soil and entered our food chain through the vegetables grown on the banks.

The UN has declared River Yamuna a "dead river" beyond Delhi. Our narrow understanding of a river and the integral role of its ecosystem to our lives has ignored the demise of the single most valuable resource of our city. The poison of our sheer apathy has turned the water of the River Yamuna — described as 'clear blue' in 1909 by The Imperial Gazetteer of India — into pure black sewage. We once had a relationship of empathetic oneness and love with the river, which was integral to our spiritual, cultural, and ecological world. It now flows as a mark of shame along the so-called seven cities of Delhi, the banks of the pilgrimage towns of Braj, and the celebrated Taj Mahal. We need to recuperate the perception of oneness so that we may engage with the river's desperate condition.

We have shown concern starting with the Yamuna Muktikaran Padyatra in 2013. The march attracted 10,000 people who marched for 11 days, connecting with the locals, making the issue urgent, and more importantly, waking some slumbering politicians. We can't afford to go in slumber again. Let us subdue "Kaliyā" and revive the River Yamuna once again, joining hands with innumerable organizations working for decades around Yamuna. One such organization is Swechha, a youth-focused NGO operating from Delhi. It has been raising awareness about the pitiable state of Yamuna through the We for Yamuna campaign and the Yamuna Yatra program since 2001.

Another organization, the Yamuna Network, has been working for over seven years now to raise relevant issues before all concerned in and outside of the government. It is a civil society consortium consisting of eight NGOs: Toxics Link, Paani Morcha, Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, LIFE, Ridge Bachao Andolan, CMS Environment, Matu Jan Sangathan, and PEACE Institute. It's only the dance of the civilians that can subdue the greedy, callous and apathetic attitude of the state towards our rivers and rejuvenate River Yamuna. Let us look at a river as an ecosystem and not as a resource to be exploited in the never-ending competition for water.

 

Photo credit: India Water Portal