WHAT A STINK!!
Indians consider rivers to be holy.
One dip is sup-posed to wash away the sins of an entire lifetime. But we treat them in the
unholiest manner—as garbage dumps. 22,900 million litres of wastewater is generated
in India per day. Of this only 26 per cent is subjected to any kind of treatment. So
almost 17,000 million litres of untreated waste reaches the Indian rivers.
BUT we continue to use them as sources of
our drinking water. DO you know that since independence more than 50 million children have
died of drinking dirty water? And that in the 1990s more than a million children succumbed
to diarrhoea and other gastrointestinal disorders? Isn't the price too high?
Dam-aging
Big dams cause serious damage to surrounding ecosystems. See how dams affect the
biodiversity.
...Life threat to rivers?
BEFORE DAMS: 1. Large river
systems shelter several species of fish, mussels and cray-fish. Many riverine fishes
require flowing-water habitats to com-plete their lifecycle. 2. The forests, which
line the streams, nurture many wetland species. 3. Annual flooding of rivers is a nat-ural process. It feeds the banks
and sand bars with alluvial soil which is good for plants.
AFTER
DAMS: 1. Dams stop fish
migration so they can-not complete their lifecycle. 2. Loss of forests and
spawning areas hamper the reproduction process of the native riverine fish. 3. The riverbed widens and is able to carry more water. As a result,
annual flooding doesn’t occur and sediment is not deposited on the banks and sand
bars. The sand bars degrade and bankwater habitat is replaced by steep, raw banks. Not at
all fish friendly
Rivers have spawned and nurtured civilisations all over the world. They
are the streams of life. Each phase of a river’s journey—from the source to the
sea—is brimmimng with stories. Are you listening? Perhaps your share of water also
comes from a river. Do you know
its story?
WHAT A STINK!!
Dam-aging
