2 minute read
Waterkeepers India
India Waterkeepers
By Cate White, Waterkeeper Alliance | Photos by Scott Edwards
The sacred Yamuna River doesn’t just absorb the sins of pilgrims; it absorbs nearly 900 million gallons a day of untreated sewage and industrial waste. At the river’s edge in the heart of New Delhi methane rises from the dark bottom, stirred by a young man named Raju who scavenges coins thrown from the overhead bridge for luck. A thick stench hangs in the air. Raju emerges with coins in hand. For Raju it is a good life. He prides himself on his ability to find fortune in the murky water — nearly 100 rupees a day, he says, twice the daily minimum wage in India.
The Ganges and Yamuna rivers, both considered feminine deities in Hindu mythology, embrace India’s fertile Gangetic Plain. In cities like Delhi, Agra and Varanasi millions live without sewage infrastructure or access to potable water. All this ensures that as India enters the world stage as a dominant economic force, she will not side-step the environmental degradation historically linked to the rise of other economic powers. Indian rivers already are some of the world’s most polluted.
In November, Waterkeepers from across North America visited the newly formed Waterkeepers India to share experiences and attend the International Living Rivers Conference in New Delhi. Dr. Vandana Shiva, a former nuclear physicist now spearheading Riverkeeper programs in India, asks, “Why must India’s future be America’s past?” She urges a smarter kind of development that involves harvesting rainwater; employing sustainable agricultural practices; and empowering communities to fight for their right to clean water.
Ninety-four new dams and river obstructions are slated for construction by the Indian government, including a plan to dam the Tsangpo, a tributary of the great Brahmaputra River, which issues from the Tibetan plateau and courses through Bhutan before entering Arunachal Pradesh where indigenous people untouched by modernity exist. Waterkeepers India is a growing movement, strongly rooted in Indian communities that will fight this plan and fight for clean water.
“When we see the lake, we see only sorrow.”
Waterkeepers at the International Living Rivers Conference in New Delhi, India.
Dilla Devi’s community was destroyed by the Tehri Dam in the foothills of the Himalayas, which traps the headwaters of the Ganges flowing off the Gangorti Glacier. The Waterkeeper Alliance delegation visited the site where the dam inundated a formerly productive agricultural region and vanquished traditional lifestyles as some 175,000 people were exiled to urban centers. Local women have joined forces to take action to reclaim the quality of their lives.
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