SAVE THE RIVERS

Indian River System plays a significant role in the lives of Indian people. Rivers nurture flora and fauna and create a landscape. Rivers erode mountains and create land. Biodiversity depends on the existence of the River to a large extent. Rivers provide livelihood to a lots of people in the form of fishing and agriculture. That is why, almost all the important Indian cities are situated in the banks of these rivers.

Rivers help farmers to irrigate their farmland and to generate electricity (hydroelectricity). Rivers are also used for transportation purpose such as, transporting goods and people from one city to another. There are many other uses of rivers as fell. In order to save human civilisation, we need to need to save the rivers. 

Indian River System is composed of seven major rivers along with their tributaries. These major Rivers are Ganga, Yamuna, Bramhaputra, Godavari, Damodar, Kaveri and Chambal. Most of the rivers end into the Bay of Bengal Sea, while some of the rivers end into Arabian Sea. The majority of rivers in India originate from one of the following three sources –

1. The Himalaya and the Karakoram ranges.
2. Sahyadri or Western Ghats in Western India.
3. Vindhya and Satpura ranges and Chotanagpur Plateau in Central India.

Besides Environmental significance, rivers have Cultural and Spiritual significance as well. Rivers Ganga and Yamuna are considered to be the most sacred Rivers in India. Ganga is the largest river in terms of its basin area as its basin area is spread along 11 North Indian states.

As a result, many pilgrimages of India are located near the banks of River Ganga. Varanasi, Haridwar and Allahabad (also known as Prayag) are located on the banks of River Ganga. Haridwar and Allahabad are famous for Kumbh Mela which is the largest religious fair in the world. It is believed that if a person takes a dip in any of these two Rivers (River Ganga and River Yamuna) all of his/her sins and mistakes are forgiven.

Due to the Industrial activities and people’s religious beliefs, the water of rivers is polluted. Industries dump harmful chemicals, salts and sewage into the rivers which not only make the water of rivers unfit for drinking but also unfit for bathing too. Due to religious and cultural importance, people dump various wastes which make the Rivers toxic. Hence, there is a great need to save Rivers. Steps should be taken to Save the Rivers from pollution as well as to recover them from pollution.

Steps Which can be Taken to Prevent Rivers from Pollution

• Avoid dumping anything in water.
• Coordinate with Municipal Corporations to keep River area cleaned.
• Place dustbins at the banks of the Rivers.
• Create awareness about the significance of the Rivers and their need to be clean.
• Persuade industries to stop disposing wastes into the Rivers.
• Avoid immersion of idols into the river or proper measures should be taken for cleaning after that.
• Sewage water from Industries and Homes must be treated before dumping the water in Rivers to prevent pollution.
• Household chemicals and Medicines should be disposed properly.

2 Steps to Clean & Recover the Polluted Rivers

• Manual cleaning of rivers for solid and insoluble wastes
• Pollutant specific cleaning process for soluble wastes