Solid Waste Management

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India

has notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. As per the rules, solid
waste means solid or semi solid domestic waste, sanitary waste, commercial
waste, institutional waste, catering and market waste and other non-residential
wastes, street sweepings, silt removed or collected from surface drains,
horticulture waste, agriculture and dairy waste, treated bio-medical waste
excluding industrial waste, bio-medical waste and e-waste, battery waste, radio-
active waste generated in the area under the local authorities. As per the rules,
the local bodies are responsible for the collection, treatment and disposal of
solid wastes. The Board is the monitoring authority under the said rules and is
responsible for granting authorization to local bodies for processing and
disposal of solid waste.

In Tamil Nadu there are 12 Corporations, 124 Municipalities and 528 Town
Panchayats. In total the solid waste generation is 14,600 Tonnes per day. The
Greater Chennai Corporation generates 5000 TPD, 11 Corporation and all
Municipalities generates about 7600 TPD and all the town panchayat generates
2000 TPD. The Board is advocating the concept of waste segregation at source,
waste reduction, recycle and reuse to avoid any environmental issues during
handling

Sonam Wangchuk

Sonam Wangchuk (born 1 September 1966) is a Ladakhi engineer, innovator

and education reformist. He is the founding-director of the Students'
Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) which was founded
in 1988 by a group of students who had been in his own words, the ‘victims’ of
an alien education system foisted on Ladakh. He is also known for designing the
SECMOL campus that runs on solar energy and uses no fossil fuels for cooking,
lighting or heating.
Wangchuk was instrumental in the launch of Operation New Hope in 1994, a
collaboration of government, village communities and the civil society to bring
reforms in the government school system. He invented the Ice Stupa technique
that creates artificial glaciers, used for storing winter water in form of conical
shaped ice heap.
Wangchuk has been helping to design and oversee the construction of several
passive solar mud buildings in mountain regions like Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim so
that energy savings principles are implemented on a larger scale. Even in -30
Celsius winters, his solar-powered school built with the rammed earth keeps the
students warm.
Led by Wangchuk, SECMOL has won the International Terra Award for best
building in July, 2016 at the 12th World Congress on Earthen Architecture in
Lyon, France. Times The rammed earth ‘Big Building’, located at SECMOL.
The campus was built using simple, low-cost traditional techniques on
principles of passive solar architecture. The building comprises a big solar
heated teaching hall, along with several rooms for the students and other
classrooms.
In 2015, when Ladakh faced a crisis due to a landslide which blocked the
Phugtal river in Zanskar and caused formation of 15 km long lake which
became a huge threat for the downstream population, Wangchuk proposed to
used a siphon technique to drain the lake and water jet erosion to safely cut the
edges instead of blasting the lake as was being planned. However, his advice
was ignored and blasting work was carried on. On 7 May 2015, the lake finally
burst into flash flood which destroyed 12 bridges and many fields.
In 2016, Wangchuk started applying the Ice Stupa technique for disaster
mitigation at high altitude glacier lakes. He was invited by Government of
Sikkim to apply siphon technique for another dangerous lake in their state. In
September 2016 he led a three week expedition to the Lhonak Glacial Lake in
North-West Sikkim, which had been declared dangerous for the last few
years. His team camped in tents for two weeks at the lake amidst rain and snow,
installing the first phase of a siphoning system to drain the lake to a safer level
until other measures were taken up

Effects of Cellular radiation on Children

All electronic devices—laptops, tablets, and cell phones—emit Radio
Frequency Electromagnetic Field (RF EMF) radiation, an invisible form of
energy which can cause damaging health effects if left uncontrolled. Common
sense dictates that this is especially true for children, whose brains are fragile
and still developing. Indeed, in this case, the science matches common sense.

In January 2015, Forbes published an article that suggested WiFi exposure

could be more dangerous to children than previously thought. This is reversal
from Forbes’ previous stance that radiation-exposure mongers were using scare
tactics to frighten those off of commonly accepted technology. According to
the Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure, the authors of the cited study
pointed out reasons why children absorb more radiation than adults.

As many other species, honeybees are becoming extinct in the world; this
phenomenon is called the Colony Collapse Disorder. Many reasons have been
proven to be behind this environmental disaster like climate changes, pesticides,
fungal pathogens and others, in addition to radiations generated by mobile
phones, especially, since in recent years wild life has been exposed to
microwaves and radio frequencies radiation signals from various sources,
including wireless phones. Bees have a specific organ for sensing magnetic
forces, enabling them to navigate using their own compass. The claim of the
research is that radiations generated by mobile phones are disturbing the life
cycle of honeybees and affecting their reproduction system and honey
producing. The research involves testing the behaviour of honeybees away from
mobile phones, with a mobile phone in its standby mode and active
communication mode. The results of the experiments verified that mobile phone
affect the honeybees' life system.

Nomophobia is a proposed name for the phobia of being out of cellular phone
contact.[1][2] It is, however, arguable that the word "phobia" is misused and that
in the majority of cases it is another form of anxiety disorder.

Acidic Rivers of Meghalaya

At least two rivers in eastern Meghalaya have turned blue again apparently due
to "high acid content", resulting in death of scores of fishes.
The Lukha river in East Jaintia Hills district and certain sections of the the
Myntdu river in West Jaintia Hills district have changed their colour to a bright
sky blue indicating a very high acid content.

"We have observed that the Lukha has slowly changed its colour in the past few
days after the monsoon rainfall subsided. The colouration has worsened and the
whole river has turned into bright sky blue," Sonapyrdi headman J S Lamare
told PTI.

Although the colouration was first detected way back in 2007, no one has been
able to find out the reason for the colouration, leaving scientists and
environmentalists baffled.

The Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board (MSPCB) in its 2012 report
blamed acid effluents from coal mines as the major probable causes of water
pollution in the area.

The Delhi-based Central Laboratory of Central Pollution Control Board had

earlier ruled out the possibility of the water sustaining any life form due to its
high acid content besides declaring it unfit for human consumption.

MSPCB member secretary J H Nengnong said the Lukha river had been
included in the National Water Monitoring Program, and water samples had
been collected periodically to conduct various tests.

While blaming the water run-off from the coal mines, the official, however, said
that even the CPCB was still struggling to find out why the river turned blue.

Local environmentalist H H Mohrmen has demanded a thorough and

independent test to find out the causes.

"In most parts of the rivers, we could find fine dust-like particles at the bottom.
The fly ash released from cement factories located a few km from the water
bodies could also be the reason," he said.
In the past years, scores of dead fishes were seen in the rivers and this year too,
fishes were found floating in the blue rivers.

The Lukha river, originating from Narpuh Wildlife Sanctuary areas, has been
seen changing its colour on meeting with the Lunar river at Khatdung. The latter
originates from Myndihati and Lumshnong areas known for heavy extraction of
coal and limestones respectively.

Local anglers have found that another river Myntdu has also started to change
its colour over the years.

The Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Ltd (MeECL), which has a run-of-the-

river power project at Leshka confluence, has also reported that high acidic
content of the water in the river are constantly corroding their machinery.

NEED FOR MANGROVE CONSERVATION

AND MANAGEMENT

Increasing human population in coastal areas is resulting in increased pressure

on mangrove ecosystems in many countries, with the growing demand for
timber, fuelwood, fodder and other non-wood forest products (NWFPs)
(Saenger, Hegerl and Davie, 1983). To ensure the conservation of mangroves
for environmental benefits, together with a sustainable supply of various forest
and other products to meet the day-to-day requirements of local people,
appropriate management of mangrove ecosystems is needed. Management can
also open new avenues for self-employment such as ecotourism, fishing,
beekeeping and cottage industries based on mangrove forest products, helping
to improve the socio-economic conditions of the local communities.
In India, mangroves occur on the West Coast, on the East Coast and on
Andaman and Nicobar Islands (see Map and Table), but in many places they are
highly degraded. According to the Government of India (1987), India lost 40
percent of its mangrove area in the last century. The National Remote Sensing
Agency (NRSA) recorded a decline of 7 000 ha of mangroves in India within
the six-year period from 1975 to 1981. In Andaman and Nicobar Islands about
22 400 ha of mangroves were lost between 1987 and 1997 (see Table).

Growing awareness of the protective, productive and social functions of tropical

mangrove ecosystems has highlighted the need to conserve and manage them
sustainably (FAO, 1994). This article discusses the various measures taken by
the Government of India for the conservation and management of mangroves,
the problems that persist in spite of these measures and some solutions to
overcome them.

Indoor Air Pollution and Sources

 According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the air we breathe inside
our homes and offices can be up to five times more polluted than the air outside.
This is because contained areas enable pollutants to build up more than open
spaces do.

But unlike secondhand smoke, radon gas and molds which are airborne toxins
we cannot readily control, most indoor air pollution comes from products we
willingly bring into our home.

 Asbestos
 Biological Pollutants
 Carbon Monoxide (CO)
 Formaldehyde/Pressed Wood Products
 Lead (Pb)
 Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
 Pesticides
 Radon (Rn)
 Indoor Particulate Matter
 Secondhand Smoke/ Environmental Tobacco Smoke
 Stoves, Heaters, Fireplaces and Chimneys

Saving a forest from vanishing

Kathgodam : The Nandhaur forest that stretches from India’s border with Nepal
in the north to Corbett National Park is one of the several hundred reserve
forests in India—and that may just be
the problem.

Unprotected zone: The Nandhaur valley

with river Nandhaur criss-crossing its
landscape.

In India, a reserve forest has the lowest

degree of protection as land use can be
easily changed by the state government
for development needs. But the
Uttaranchal government can also upgrade its status to that of a wildlife
sanctuary, and later into a national park or tiger reserve.
Nandhaur deserves an upgrade, say conservation activists who, over the past six
months, have undertaken an exercise using camera-traps placed along the
Kathgodam-Tanakpur road to track wildlife in the region—they have pictures of
tigers, leopards and bears, among other species to show for their efforts.

The state government doesn’t seem to be sensitive to the ecological needs.

In the last decade it has allowed the setting up of a railway sleeper factory, an
Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC) depot and an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
complex on land carved out of the reserve forest.

Using camera traps, two wildlife biologists are documenting evidence of

wildlife in Nandhaur’s forested area, hoping to get it better protection

The state government wants to broaden the road close to where the camera traps
took the pictures. It remains blind to other projects, including illegal boulder
mining and logging that are destroying the forest. Poaching continues unabated
in the absence of adequate forest guards. Meanwhile, a Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF) camp is being built at one end of the Nandhaur forest. All this
may be a precursor to further developmental activity.

Going by the pictures produced by the camera traps, it’s highly likely that the
forest interior harbours much more by way of wildlife than has been captured
by the road-side devices, says Dipankar Ghosh, director of species and
landscape programmes at WWF (World Wide Fund for nature)-India, whose
team set up the traps.

“If proper protection measures are put in place, Nandhaur can be as successful
as Corbett, which has a high density of tigers and holds a large elephant
population,” says scientist and conservationist A.J.T. Johnsingh.

The 850 sq. km pristine forest tract east of Corbett National Park lies between
the Gola and Sharda rivers on the Terai. It is part of the Terai- Bhabar region in
the Shivalik range of the Himalayas and is mostly covered by sal trees and
grasslands.

“Though predominantly a sal forest, it has more than 100 species of trees,
mainly of fruiting and medicinal value,”says Amit Verma, district forest officer,
Haldwani. “Trees such as the ficus and mango act as a magnet for hundreds of
bird species from hornbills to tiny warblers and flycatchers. Currently,
Nandhaur has a checklist of more than 250 bird species, including the rare
crow-billed drongo.”

Nandhaur forms part of the larger area known to conservationists as the Terai
Arc Landscape (TAL) that covers 49,500 sq. km (30,000 of which is in India,
the rest in Nepal). The global biodiversity hot spot lies in an 810km arc curving
from the Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary in Haryana and the Simbalwara Wildlife
Sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh to Valmiki National Park in Bihar.

Though fragmented in many places, TAL represents one of the densest

populations of the tiger in the world with 14 protected areas (nine in India, five
in Nepal) and is home to three flagship species—the tiger, Asian elephant and
the Indian rhinoceros.

In 2004, Wildlife Institute of India said it was one of the three viable habitats
key to the long-term future of the tiger, which was acknowledged by the state
forest department in 2005. The area is also a part of the Shivalik Elephant
Reserve declared by the Uttaranchal government in 2002.

Today, India has 661 protected areas comprising 100 national parks, 514
wildlife sanctuaries, 43 conservation reserves and four community reserves
(inclusive of 41 tiger reserves) that add up to roughly 5% of the country’s
geographical area.

Rajesh Gopal, member secretary and head, National Tiger Conservation

Authority (NTCA), says, “Since 2001, the authority has made a concerted effort
to declare as much tiger habitat as possible so that the forest landscape gets the
highest possible legal protection. It is the only way to save forests from getting
diverted for development purpose.”

Still, Nandhaur is outside the Protected Area (PA) network on India’s

conservation map. The state’s apathy has led to large-scale destruction of the
Gola river corridor and has hampered elephant movement. The corridor used to
ensure that wildlife could move uninterrupted from Corbett to Nandhaur and all
the way to Nepal.

TAL in Uttaranchal can be roughly divided into three areas—between the

Yamuna and Ganga rivers, between the Ganga and Gola rivers and between the
Gola and Sharda rivers.
The majority of Rajaji National Park lies in the first, while the second has part
of Rajaji National Park and Corbett National Park. Nandhaur is in the third and
comes under the Haldwani forest division, whose five ranges—Chakata,
Nandhaur, Jaulasal, Danda and Sharda—cover about 600 sq. km.

This area is the only link between the eastern forests of TAL such as
Bramhadev and Sukhlaphata Wildlife Reserve of Nepal and the western forests
of Ramnagar and Terai central forest division, conservationists say, offering
another argument for its protection.

It was the British who renamed Bamori Ghati as Kathgodam (meaning a depot
of wood) in April 1884. Since then, the constant flow of timber has reached
unsustainable levels.

Exploiting traditional forest rights

Tree theft: A truckload of wood being

smuggled out of a forest in Uttaranchal.

Hak hakook is a traditional right under

the Uttaranchal Panchayati Forest
Rules, 2001, that came into being under
the District Scheduled Act of 1874. It
originally stated that when local people
were given land holdings within a
reserve forest, they were allowed to graze their goats and cattle, trim trees for
fodder, and collect dry wood for fuel. In return, they would look after the forest
and protect it as best as they could. They also had rights to a certain amount of
wood (only dry and uprooted trees) each year that was meant only for personal
use — building homes, making ploughshares, cremation and other traditional
ceremonies.

These rights are being subverted by the so-called “wood mafia” to exploit the
sal forest, conservationists allege. Instead of cutting dead trees, there is
indiscriminate felling of sal trees across Uttaranchal. Sometimes, when an
inquiry is conducted, permission papers for the hak hakook of random villages
are liable to be produced, allowing violators to escape.

The Problems Of Lake Turkana

Lake Turkana is a miraculous anomaly of life-giving water in a parched and
unforgiving land. Formed millions of years ago in the tectonic upheavals that
created East Africa’s Great Rift Valley, Turkana is the largest permanent desert
lake in the world. The lake is home to the world's largest population of Nile
crocodiles, hippos, and hundreds of bird and fish species. Its shores have
revealed the oldest-known fossil remains of Homo habilis.

Today, more than a quarter million indigenous peoples from at least ten tribes
have become masters of wresting sustenance from the harsh landscape. Without
the lake, life here would be virtually impossible.

But Lake Turkana and its inhabitants now face an environmental catastrophe –
and an avoidable one. The lake could start drying up when Ethiopia completes
its massive Gibe 3 Dam upstream on Lake Turkana's main water source, the
Omo River. Ironically, Kenya plans to be a major purchaser of Gibe 3's power.
While Kenya reportedly signed a power purchase agreement in 2006, no
bilateral agreements on the use of the Omo-Turkana waterway and the dam’s
downstream effects to Kenya are publicly known. The 300,000 people who live
around Lake Turkana in Kenya were neither informed of the project’s impacts
nor consulted on their priorities. Their situation mirrors that in Ethiopia, where
the traditional economy of the Lower Omo Valley supports up to a half million
people.
Turkana’s indigenous communities are highly dependent on the lake for their
food crops, livestock grazing and watering, and fishing. Any impacts to the
lake’s ecosystem would disrupt the economy, leading to an increase in conflicts
in the area. Considering the unstable state of peace in Northern Kenya, such
damage to the local economies would invoke a threat to regional stability.

Green Buildings

Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers

to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally
responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from
planning to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and
demolition.
Green building brings together a vast array of practices, techniques, and skills to
reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment
and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources,
e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar,
and photovoltaic equipment, and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain
gardens, and reduction of rainwater run-off. Many other techniques are used,
such as using low-impact building materials or using packed gravel or
permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance
replenishment of ground water.
While the practices or technologies employed in green building are constantly
evolving and may differ from region to region, fundamental principles persist
from which the method is derived: siting and structure design efficiency, energy
efficiency, water efficiency, materials efficiency, indoor environmental quality
enhancement, operations and maintenance optimization and waste and toxics
reduction. The essence of green building is an optimization of one or more of
these principles. Also, with the proper synergistic design, individual green
building technologies may work together to produce a greater cumulative effect.

Green building methods:

 Using sustainable building materials like recycled glass and steel, as well
as renewable materials like bamboo and rubber
 Installing energy-efficient windows and doors
 Using lower-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints and stains
 Constructing green roof systems (aka “plants on your roof”) that offer
many benefits, including on-site gardens, rainwater management, and
protecting your roof from the effects of harmful UV light
 Adding water harvesting and purification systems that don’t just manage,
but also make the most use of rainfall
 Maximizing natural light, which cannot only save on lighting
requirements (and subsequently energy costs), but also help keep
buildings warm in colder months
 Using renewable energy to power the building—for example, installing
a commercial solar panel system.

Sparrows – Emotional Link To Nature

WORLD SPARROW DAY

Sparrows are slowly but steadily disappearing from cities with Bengaluru being
no exception. As these little birds become more and more elusive for humans,
times of india captured a few of them in different colours on the occasion of
world sparrow day. The relationship between humans and nature is strained
because of the degrading number of sparrows. World sparrow day was first
observed in 2010 when members of the nature forever society started
communicating the need to save these birds with national and international
organisations.

THE NEED

They are one of the very few bird species that are very close to humans.
Sparrows are essential indicators of our environment’s health and balance.
Future generations need to know about sparrows and their habits. This would be
the only chance they would get to see real live sparrows if nothing changes.

HOUSE SPARROW

It is the most commonly seen wild bird in 2/3 land masses, including New
Zealand, North America, Australia, India and Europe.

It is absent in China, Japan, Siberia, Africa and South America.

It feeds on kitchen scraps and insects.

NATURE CONSERVATION

In April -June 2012, a questionnaire survey on House Sparrows in India was

conducted by Bombay Natural History Society, The Natural Conservation of
Biological Sciences and the Nature Conservation together with a large number
of supporting organisations. This project gathered over 10,000 reports from
more than 5000 respondents. These reports suggested a decline in the number of
sparrows all across the country, although their current status varies considerably
from city to city and region to region. The most striking result was that reports
of sparrows were consistently lower from cities than from towns and villages.

The Dying Wular Lake

A hoarding captioned ‘Wular Vantage Park’ caught my eye on my way from

Srinagar to Bandipore and my mind was a rich brew of contradictory thoughts.
Before I could settle my feelings, a voice in a non-kashmiri accent asked, ‘Is
this the famous Wular Lake.’ Aah! Famous! We, the Kashmiri passengers took
no time in replying in positive, rather boastfully. Our ‘yes’ was full of pride and
arrogance but unfortunately very short living. With his eyes wide-open, the
visitor perspicaciously commented, ‘I thought it was the largest lake of Asia,
but…. He was at a loss of words and so were we. The lake spoke for itself. The
lake, which would once cast a spell on its viewers, had a big question mark on
its geographical description. Once a relief for sore eyes, the dying lake gave me
blues and I ignored the visitor pretending to be enjoying 92.7 FM. We, the
Kashmiri passengers, forgot the topic but only if the visitor had been told in his
childhood that ‘curiosity kills the cat’. He kept observing the lake and went on
with his questions. ‘Why don’t they clean it?’ ‘Isn’t it larger than the Dal Lake’.
‘Where are the houseboats and the floating shops?’ Blah Blah Blah. ‘Will you
shut up and stop adding insult to injury’, I only thought of telling him. A few
more questions and finally he had a point. ‘Do they clean the Dal because it
fetches them money and the Wular doesn’t!’ Spilling the beans, I shamelessly
replied, ‘Welcome to Kashmir brother!’ I may be politically incorrect but I
agree with the visitor. We do clean the Dal for the sake of money and not for the
sake of preserving our natural resources.
If we believed in the latter we would not have ignored our biggest aquatic asset,
the largest lake of Asia, the Wular. No doubt money is important and so is the
Dal but politicizing everything around us is a bit of too much. Give it a thought,
a ‘clean Dal campaign’ can very well be a gimmick. An electoral slogan or as
we recently witnessed, an effort to impress Sonia Gandhi (read ‘the center’).
Preservation of God’s gifts is a façade.
Anyway, politics is a closed book to me, therefore would not like to exaggerate
on the ‘political connection’ of the Wular being at the death’s door. Talking
about nature in an apolitical manner sounds better.
The pellucid waters of the Wular, reflecting the blue sky and the lofty
mountains would attract thousands of visitors from every corner of the world.
Not to forget the peace loving doves making the picturesque lake extremely
bewitching. People would spend days in search of the horizon and may be some
got lucky to find one. My Dad once witnessed an old female foreigner jumping
like a baby at Watlab and shouting ‘Wonder Wonder!’ Probably, the lady could
not restrain her excitement and fell in a ravine. She survived though. Such was
the beauty of the glimmering lake that the English called it the amphitheater and
the habitants would swear by its beauty. The passers-by would surrender to the
beauty and the lake would never disappoint. A panoramic view, that would
leave the greatest of the poets speechless, awe struck. Unfortunately the boot is
on the other foot now. The famous lake is almost dead and at the verge of
becoming history. Such is the present scenario that if the hoarding was not
there, a passer-by would hardly realize that he has passed by a water body.
There is rampant Eutrophication and the weeds have shrunken the lake to a
poky wetland.
Now, who balled up the lake and what will be the consequences is not the point
of discussion. Man is superior in intelligence and understands everything but
ignores still. God has been very kind and has bestowed us with priceless gifts.
Bitter pill to swallow but a fact that we have not been able to preserve this
kindness of the Almighty. We have been extremely cruel. Be it our forests, our
water bodies or anything else, we have heavily messed up with nature. Pray! It
doesn’t retort or has it already started the backlash. Why not? Sow the wind and
reap the whirlwind. So we cannot afford to play the blame game. It is time to
put on the thinking cap and apologize. Cleaning the largest lake of Asia is not
going to be an easy task but aren’t we used to saying, ‘Nothing is Impossible’.
True, a lot of work has to be put forth, but believe me it is worth it. So
implement the plans of cleaning it as soon as possible without counting the
crores.

Auroville’s Work

Afforestation campaign
Auroville's afforestation campaign began in the early 1970's. The first tree
nurseries were started in Success and Kottakarai and, with the help of grants
from the Point Foundation, the Tamil Fund and friends abroad, large-scale tree
planting began. In the next ten years, as part of a massive soil and water
conservation programme, over a million trees - timbers, ornamentals, fencing,
fruit and fodder trees, nut trees etc.- were planted here. Some were exotic, like
for instance the Australian 'Work Tree' (Mother's name for Acacia
auriculiformis) which has adapted so well that it's now crowding out other
species. As the trees grew, and micro-climates formed, many species of bird-life
and animals returned, further accelerating the dissemination of seeds and
enriching the environment.
Scientific monitoring
In 1982, impressed by the success of the afforestation project, the Department
of Environment, Government of India, offered Auroville 11 lakhs of rupees
(then around US $ 100,000) over five years to plant trees and scientifically
monitor the results so that the most appropriate techniques and species for their
situation - which is the situation of many other parts of India - could be
identified. It was the beginning of a new orientation for greenworkers in
Auroville, for now it became evident that Auroville had something precious to
offer outside its own boundaries.
Work outside Auroville's boundaries
Aurovilian greenworkers have been increasingly going out into India to share
their experience and help initiate new afforestation schemes. These have
included projects with Tibetan refugees in Karnataka, with Irula tribesmen near
Chinglepet in Tamil Nadu and a massive project, funded by the National
Wastelands Commission, in the Palani Hills to reafforest large areas near
Dindigul and Kodaikanal.
The Green Belt
A major part of the afforested area is situated in a green belt around the future
city area, forming a buffer zone to protect Auroville from intrusion by the
rapidly expanding suburbs of Pondicherry. This green belt is sparsely inhabited,
mostly by caretakers of the now almost fully grown forest. The Forest Group
meets every month to share information and to decide about allocation of funds
(usually these are insufficient) for maintenance and afforestation and bunding of
newly acquired plots of land.

Tarun Bhagat Singh

Reviving local initiatives for water – which have thrived for ages in the arid
northern regions of India – Rajendra Singh and others in the local organization
Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS) in the arid province of Rajasthan, have helped to
lead by example in implementing local, community-driven and controlled water
solutions. ********* The population growth rate in Rajasthan region is
estimated to be the highest in the country, but the region is also suffering from
ever-increasing water scarcity and stress. Across India, due to excessive
drawing down and “mining” of groundwater, supplies of this resource are
severely depleted in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman, Diu, Andhra and Tamil Nadu. Rajasthan in particular,
which has an estimated 5.4 per cent of the national population, 18.7 per cent of
all livestock in the country and 13.9 per cent of the total “cultivable area,” hosts
only 1.16 per cent of the national share of surface water, and 1.7 per cent of
groundwater resources. With leadership provided by women who customarily
take responsibility for providing their families with safe freshwater, Tarun
Bharat Sangh (TBS), a non government organization that brings people together
on the issues of management of forests and water resources, has participated in
the construction of johads, earthen small-scale reservoirs that help to harvest
rainwater and improve the recharge of groundwater resources. As a result of
concerted work, thousands of johads have been built since Ragendra Singh and
TBS have become increasingly active, having started the work in Alwar in
1985. The impact has been tremendous: five rivers that used to run dry after the
annual monsoon season are now alive with flows once again, groundwater
levels have risen by an estimated six metres, and crucial forest cover, which
helps to maintain integrity and water-retaining capacity of the soil, has
increased by 33 per cent. In addition, TBS has helped to challenge major efforts
to privatize and abuse freshwater resources. For instance, in the Alwar area
where Singh began the work that would transform into TBS, non-violent
community action has prevented 40 water-intensive industrial companies
(including bottled water and soft drink makers) from setting up factories.
Elsewhere in India, prominent transnational corporations such as Coca-Cola
have been challenged for their extreme degradation of water resources, and
environmentally and socially destructive waste practices. One of TBS’s current
campaigns focuses on the protection of the Yamuna River through challenging
existing development plans and promoting forest conservation and expansion in
the river’s floodplain. Some have criticized the methods and framework of
TBS’s work in Rajasthan, citing a lack of attention to existing inequalities, and
local elites’ disproportionate impact within the village councils, or “gram
sabhas,” which form the basis of local governance under the Panchayat system,
introduced forcefully into India in 1993. The gram sabhas’ purpose as a unit of
local village governance was to afford more democratic control over decision
making, towards fostering greater equity at the local level.

Alternative Fuel Vehicles

Alternative fuel vehicle
Alternative Fuel Vehicle refers to a vehicle that runs on a fuel other than
traditional gasoline or diesel; any method of powering an engine that does not
involve petroleum.
Due to a combination of heavy taxes on fuel, particularly in Europe, tightening
environmental laws, particularly in California, and the possibility of further
restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, work on alternative power systems for
vehicles has become a high priority for governments and vehicle manufacturers
around the world.
Current research and development is largely centered on "hybrid" vehicles that
use both electric power and internal combustion.
Other R&D efforts in alternative forms of power focus on developing fuel cells,
alternative forms of combustion such as GDI and HCCI, and even the stored
energy of compressed air.
The use of alcohol as a fuel for internal combustion engines, either alone or in
combination with other fuels, has been given much attention mostly because of
its possible environmental and long-term economical advantages over fossil
fuel.
Both ethanol and methanol have been considered for this purpose.
While both can be obtained from petroleum or natural gas, ethanol may be the
most interesting because many believe it to be a renewable resource, easily
obtained from sugar or starch in crops and other agricultural produce such as
grain, sugarcane or even lactose.
Since ethanol occurs in nature whenever yeast happens to find a sugar solution
such as overripe fruit, most organisms have evolved some tolerance to ethanol,
whereas methanol is toxic.
Other experiments involve butanol, which can also be produced by fermentation
of plants.
A hybrid vehicle uses multiple propulsion systems to provide motive power.
This most commonly refers to gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, which use
gasoline (petrol) and electric batteries for the energy used to power internal-
combustion engines and electric motors.
These powerplants are usually relatively small and would be considered
"underpowered" by themselves, but they can provide a normal driving
experience when used in combination during acceleration and other maneuvers
that require greater power.
A hydrogen car is an automobile which uses hydrogen as its primary source of
power for locomotion.
These cars generally use the hydrogen in one of two methods: combustion or
fuel-cell conversion.
In combustion, the hydrogen is "burned" in engines in fundamentally the same
method as traditional gasoline cars.
In fuel-cell conversion, the hydrogen is turned into electricity through fuel cells
which then powers electric motors.
With either method, the only byproduct from the spent hydrogen is water.
A small number of prototype hydrogen cars currently exist, and a significant
amount of research is underway to make the technology more viable.
A solar car is an electric vehicle powered by solar energy obtained from solar
panels on the car.
Solar cars are not a practical form of transportation; insufficient power falls on
the roof of a practically sized and shaped vehicle to provide adequate
performance.

Transport System in Curitiba, Brazil

For much of its existence, Curitiba was a sleepy town eclipsed by São Paulo, its
much larger neighbour to the north-east. But by 1960, the city’s population was
beginning to grow significantly and within 20 years it had surged from 120,000
people to 361,000. Planners began wondering how to cope with this growth, and
initially, there were plans to make the city more like Brasilia, the nation’s newly
built capital. Avenues were to be widened and the city centre was to be adapted
so that cars could become the primary mode of transport.

However, these plans would be cut short when Curitiban architect Jaime Lerner,
then in his early thirties, took office as mayor in 1971. Under the dictatorship
ruling Brazil in the late 1960s, the local governor selected Lerner as mayor,
confident that the young architect wouldn’t challenge his political order.

Lerner immediately began to shake things up. His vision for Curitiba turned the
conventional urban planning at play in Brasilia on its head. Instead of widening
avenues, he created a pedestrian mall in the city centre. And rather than turning
frequently flooding arroyos into concrete drainage canals, he dammed the small
streams to create parks, which would close during floods. But his most
memorable contribution came in his ideas for the city’s bus network.

Realising the importance of mass transit, planners called for the creation of
subway lines, as well as widened streets for cars – but construction would be
costly and could take decades to complete.

Instead, Lerner saw an opportunity in the one form of transport that many
considered a lost cause: the bus. His idea was to devise a system that gave buses
as many of the functional advantages of urban train systems as possible. He
proposed to integrate dedicated bus lanes along the city’s main arteries, with
stations placed on medians along the routes. This would allow buses to run at
speeds comparable to light rail, while dramatically reducing the cost.

A savvy deal-maker, Lerner made a bargain with private bus operators to pay
for the creation of the new infrastructure, while they would provide the vehicles
in exchange. With this trade-off in place, the first rapid bus lanes of Curitiba
ended up costing 50 times less than rail.

Though the system wasn’t an instant success after the opening of the first line in
1974, it gradually worked its way into the livelihoods of residents. In 1979,
Lerner created the Rede Integrada de Transporte (Integrated Transport Network)
to better manage the system and, as new routes were added, it began to show its
full potential. By 1993, it was carrying 1.5 million passengers a day.

But high ridership created a problem. Buses in the system still used
conventional boarding systems, where passengers entered through the front of
the bus and paid fares on board. Lerner, who was back in office for his third
term as mayor, came up with an elegant solution.

He called for a revamped station design that enabled faster boarding through
multiple doors, and fares would be exchanged before entering the station –
similar to subway or light-rail systems. Offboard payment would also allow for
the creation of transfer stations, meaning one fare would cover the entire
system. To top it off, Lerner gave the stations a distinctive look by placing them
in futuristic glass tubes. These new “tube stations” debuted in October 1991 as
part of the first Ligeirinho express line. Today there are 357 tube stations
throughout the city.

With this important addition, the city’s system became the world’s first bus
rapid transit (BRT) network. “Curitiba was the first to include the essential
elements necessary for a BRT system to function effectively,” says Andrés
Fingeret, director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in
Buenos Aires.

The success of Curitiba’s BRT, which had mostly gone unnoticed elsewhere,
began to attract attention from other cities in Latin America. BRT would be
soon be given the chance to prove itself on a much larger scale in Bogotá,
Colombia, a city of 8 million people. There, mayor Enrique Peñalosa seized on
the concept as a way to solve the crippling traffic problems of his city. After
taking office in 1998 he borrowed and added to many of the system’s concepts
to build a viable BRT network, the Transmilenio. The stations, which feature
many of the key functional elements of Curitiba’s, contributed to its success.

But as BRT took off internationally, it began to face problems back in Curitiba.
Though ridership remained among the highest in the world for BRT, a 2012
article in CityLab reported that it was declining with respect to previous years,
while car usage climbed. Curitiba newspaper Gazeta do Povo has noted that the
stations did a poor job protecting passengers from extreme temperatures, and in
some cases were inefficient at keeping out rainwater.

In addition, Curitiba’s population has now swelled to over 1.8 million people –
more than four times what it was when the BRT system first opened. Mobility
remains an issue in the city and, despite BRT’s success, the city has made initial
plans for the creation of a subway system – a form of transport Lerner called “a
thing of the past” and did his best to avoid.

One other potential solution now being considered in Curitiba is the bicycle.
Unlike other cities known for sustainability, Curitiba is only recently beginning
to take cycling seriously. After two decades of hardly any new plans for
cycling, a 2012 bicycle masterplan called for the creation of 400km of new
lanes.

Fortunately, the bus system may be an asset toward these efforts. “The BRT
system and cycling can and should work together to provide better mobility
options for the city,” says Alexandre Costa Nascimento, editor of the Curitiba
cycling blog Ir e Vir de Bike. Though critical of the implementation of the
city’s current bike masterplan, he notes: “Planners should consider integration
programmes such as bike racks, bike parking and fare incentives.”

Despite these lingering issues, BRT in Curitiba has become a cultural

touchstone, the city’s answer to the freewheeling carnival spirit of Rio and the
fast-paced, business-dominated lifestyle in São Paulo. The city’s ministry of
culture has set up the Tuboteca, a book exchange programme, in the city’s bus
stations. And, as if to remove any doubt as to their status as this city’s symbol,
Curitiba’s airport gift shop is built in the shape of a life-size BRT station.

International Air Standards

The ambient air quality standards most often compared include those of the
European Union, the United States, and the WHO. The WHO air quality
standards are not legally binding; they are there as a guideline for countries who
may or may not choose to adopt them. China’s standards have also come
under close scrutiny in recent years.
The best comparison we have seen comes courtesy of the National
Environmental Research Institute of Denmark. In this analysis the AAQS of the
EU, US and WHO are compared to those found in China, Japan, and
Switzerland. A link to the complete analysis can be found here.
A more succinct comparison has been produced by the David Suzuki
Foundation. Their comparison chart is reproduced below with thanks.
At a glance we can see that the standards proposed by the WHO are
significantly tougher than those imposed by any of the countries listed. This is
perhaps not surprising – the WHO does not to answer to voters or taxpayers!
The table also shows that the standards in the US (National Ambient Air
Quality Standards, NAAQS) are more forgiving than the standards in other
countries.
Looking at the variability in international standards we can’t help but wonder:
what limits are truly safe for people? and are citizens in the US being exposed
to more air pollution than the people who live within the borders of the
European Union?
The answer to both questions is – it depends…

THE PROBLEM WITH AIR QUALITY STANDARDS

The first major problem with air quality standards is that the science is
constantly advancing. What we thought was OK for human health 30 years ago
no longer looks quite as safe. This explains the reduction in limits over the years
such as the US EPA’s ozone standard referred to above.
Then there are all the things not included in most national air quality standards.
Many experts believe we should include Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
which are a very large group of chemicals which include some extremely toxic
substances. As yet none of the major standards discussed here includes such
pollutants.
The second major problem relates to the way the limits are measured and
reported against. The methods that can be used to measure and report air quality
levels are defined alongside the ambient air quality standards in law. The
methods mandate equipment that is by nature expensive, immobile and
complicated.
The problem with such equipment is that most governments can afford only a
handful of ‘stations’ where measurement of air quality takes place. In Auckland,
for example, where we live, a city of 1.5 million people is covered by just five
monitoring stations. We can be confident that the air quality is as reported in the
vicinity of the station, but what about people who live 20 km away from the
nearest station?
As a result the US EPA and other organisations responsible for setting air
quality standards are now looking for alternative methods of measuring air
quality – equipment that is less expensive but still accurate and more mobile
(which means we can have more of them).

Indigenous Water Harvesting Systems,

India
1. Jhalara

Jhalaras are typically rectangular-shaped stepwells that have tiered steps on

three or four sides. These stepwells collect the subterranean seepage of an
upstream reservoir or a lake. Jhalaras were built to ensure easy and regular
supply of water for religious rites, royal ceremonies and community use. The
city of Jodhpur has eight jhalaras, the oldest being the Mahamandir Jhalara that
dates back to 1660 AD.

2. Talab /Bandhi

Talabs are reservoirs that store water for household consumption and drinking
purposes. They may be natural, such as the pokhariyan ponds at Tikamgarh in
the Bundelkhand region or man made, such as the lakes of Udaipur. A reservoir
with an area less than five bighas is called a talai, a medium sized lake is called
a bandhi and bigger lakes are called sagar or samand.

3. Bawari

Bawaris are unique stepwells that were once a part of the ancient networks of
water storage in the cities of Rajasthan. The little rain that the region received
would be diverted to man-made tanks through canals built on the hilly outskirts
of cities. The water would then percolate into the ground, raising the water table
and recharging a deep and intricate network of aquifers. To minimise water loss
through evaporation, a series of layered steps were built around the reservoirs to
narrow and deepen the wells.
4. Taanka

Taanka is a traditional rainwater harvesting technique indigenous to the Thar

desert region of Rajasthan. A Taanka is a cylindrical paved underground pit into
which rainwater from rooftops, courtyards or artificially prepared catchments
flows. Once completely filled, the water stored in a taanka can last throughout
the dry season and is sufficient for a family of 5-6 members. An important
element of water security in these arid regions, taankas can save families from
the everyday drudgery of fetching water from distant sources.
5. Ahar Pynes

Ahar Pynes are traditional floodwater harvesting systems indigenous to South

Bihar. Ahars are reservoirs with embankments on three sides that are built at the
end of diversion channels like pynes. Pynes are artificial rivulets led off from
rivers to collect water in the ahars for irrigation in the dry months. Paddy
cultivation in this relatively low rainfall area depends mostly on ahar pynes.
6. Johads

Johads, one of the oldest systems used to conserve and recharge ground water,
are small earthen check dams that capture and store rainwater. Constructed in an
area with naturally high elevation on three sides, a storage pit is made by
excavating the area, and excavated soil is used to create a wall on the fourth
side. Sometimes, several johads are interconnected through deep channels, with
a single outlet opening into a river or stream nearby. This prevents structural
damage to the water pits that are also called madakas in Karnataka and
pemghara in Odisha.

Night Fertilizers In China

They are reviving an old tradition - and one that has continued in parts of China.
Before the invention a century ago of the chemical process for converting
nitrogen from the air into the nitrates plants can use, sewage was widely spread
onto urban "sewage farms". Traditionally, it was collected in the dead of night
to avoid offending people's sensibilities - hence the term "night soil" - and used
to grow vegetables and other crops.

Campaigns to improve public health and the introduction of flush toilets meant
the practice grew obsolete in most places. (Anecdotal evidence suggests night
soil was still being used in Hong Kong's New Territories up to the 1980s.) Even
so, where sewer systems were developed, farmers still sometimes competed for
the network's outpourings. In a few places, this has persisted.

"China's use of night soil … is probably the reason that its soils are still healthy
after four millennia of intensive agriculture," wrote author Rose George, in a
2008 edition of Slate magazine; and since the 1890s, most of the sewage from
Mexico City has been piped untreated to the fields of the Tula Valley, to the
north. Today, that megacity's 21 million people continue to fertilise more than
100,000 hectares with their faeces. The remains of the city's digested beans,
tortillas and chilli peppers double yields of corn and almost triple the rentable
value of farms, says Blanca Jimenez, of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. In
essence, poo has made Tula Valley farmers wealthy.

Case Studies : Khadhi, Dastkar

Khadi

Khadi constitutes an important segment of the textile sector. Khadi has been
defined as any cloth woven on handlooms in India from cotton, silk or woollen
yarn handspun in India or from a mixture of any two or all of such yarns.

Khadi has the unique property of keeping the wearer warm in winter as well as
cool in summer season. This fabric on washing is more enhanced, thus, the
more you wash it, better the look. Khadi easily lasts years together, at least for
4-5 years.

Most of the selected khadi institutions adopted improved spinning and weaving
machinery. Most of the institutions (79 per cent) are equipped with new model
charkhas, while 18 per cent have traditional charkhas and only 3 per cent have
e-charkhas. Similarly, about 75 per cent of the institutions own pedal looms,
and the remaining 25 per cent own handlooms. Most of the institutions are well
equipped with in-house spinning and weaving facilities (more than 80 per cent),
whereas in-house stitching, dyeing and printing facilities are available in very
few khadi institutions, i.e., 59.7, 24.2 and 24.2 per cent, respectively.

Dastkar

Dastkar is an Indian non-government organisation working with craftspeople

across India, for promotion and revival of traditional crafts of India.

Dastkar carries out its mission through advocacy with governmental, non-
governmental & foreign agencies; as consultant, evaluator & resource provider
to craftgroups and as organiser of direct retail marketing platforms in its
popular Bazaars and Exhibitions, bringing together craftspeople, producer
groups, environmental organisations, social activists & cultural performers with
urban consumers, students and international buyers.
Dastkar assists craftspeople through support service activities such as capacity
building workshops, skills training, collaborative design innovation and product
development; helping them transform traditional skills into products that have
contemporary appeal, thereby providing craft communities with a source of
permanent employment and sustained earning.
Today Dastkar works with an ever growing family of more than 350 craftgroups
and small producers, directly and indirectly affecting the lives of approximately
43,000 artisans from across 22 States of India.
Dastkar is a brand name for quality craft from genuine producers and the main
focus remains the Indian urban retail market and customer.

Gypsies In India

The largest group of Gypsies in India are the Lambadi (or Gormati) Gypsies.
Other groups living there include the Tamil Nomads, the Indian Gypsies, the
Kanjari, and the Baiga. Although these Gypsy groups are spread throughout
India, most of them are concentrated in such areas as Punjab, Madhya Pradesh,
Utter Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh. The Arhagar Gypsies also
live in neighboring Pakistan.

These groups, as well as other Gypsies around the world, are linked
linguistically. All of the Gypsy languages belong to the North Indo-Aryan
language family.
Most Indian Gypsies have olive skin, dark hair, and brown eyes. Many believe
they are descendants of the Rajputs of medieval India. These were a people who
had been expelled from their homeland by Mughal invaders. They were used as
grain-carriers and weapon-makers for Muslim troops. The Rajputs wandered
throughout India and beyond, as a destitute, ignored, and misunderstood people.
Their only valuables were the tools used in their specialized professions. Today,
their descendants, the Gypsies, are widespread throughout India. They have
maintained a mystical lifestyle that keeps them somewhat socially separate from
their surrounding communities.

Not only do the Indian Gypsies usually have more than one occupation, but they
also use additional skills to supplement their incomes. Some specialize in
making such items as broomsticks, iron tools, and needles. They may also repair
tool or work with stone. Acrobats, magicians, tricksters, story-tellers, fortune-
tellers, and the like may also polish cattle horns or work as blacksmiths. Some
groups have even developed the art of tattooing. Nevertheless, these various
occupations are used only when the region's people have a need for them. A
Gypsy will change occupations and activities, adapting to a changing society's
needs, because they depend on the people in that society for their livelihood. A
Gypsy will only settle down when he cannot adapt to the needs of the region.
Some of these "settled" Gypsies now live as farmers.

While some Gypsies travel throughout the year, others travel only part of the
year, returning to their home camps periodically. Some live in houses similar to
those of the region, but many use their wagons or bull carts as dwelling places,
and some live in mobile homes.

Typically, Gypsies have very unclean living habits. Sanitation and good hygiene
are rarely practiced. Indian Gypsies believe that babies are to be born "into the
lap of mother earth." For this reason, a woman will have her baby while lying
on a rug on the ground. Children are often poorly cared for; their hair hangs
loosely and shoes are seldom worn. Gypsies are a very superstitious people, and
mixed with their religious beliefs are many "taboos."

10 most Polluted Rivers In India

Wardha

The Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) is allegedly releasing untreated, highly

contaminated water from two open cast coal mines into Vidarbha’s second
biggest river — Wardha. The alarming level of pollution can be gauged from
the colour of the water in the big river. The surface layer of the river has turned
yellowish and blackish at spots where the polluted water is being released into
the river.
WCL, however, denies any pollution, claiming all the water is treated before
being released into the river. The surface layer of soil and stones in the nullah
from which the mine water is being released have also turned thick yellowish in
colour.

Hindon

The Hindon river’s roughly 30km stretch along the National Highway-24 in
Ghaziabad has turned red – thanks to the stone-crushing units operating on its
banks and raising a health scare.

The units, environmental activists allege, are illegally operating on the river bank.
These units fetch gigantic stones from hills, crush them into sand, use the
Hindon’s water in the process, and then drain the effluent back into the river.

Stone crushing units also discharge significant quantities of particle pollutants as

well.

Experts say adverse health effects arising out of the river pollution are visible in
the upper reaches, along the villages like Bhadoli, Morty, Chirchita, Mavikala,
Dolcha and Suthari. Cases of reproductive disorders, birth defects, and skin
problems are all reported there, they say.

Musi

The Musi, which is a tributary of the river Krishna, is sarcastically referred to as

the city’s sewage drain because most of 1,300 million litres day sew-age
generated by Hyderabad ends up there. However, it seems they did not get to
see the high levels of pollution in Musi river which cuts through Hyderabad and
in Hussainsagar.
As per data obtained from Telangana State Pollution Control Board, main
indicators of water quality — the values of biochemical oxygen demand,
chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved solids — have not changed for the
Musi since 2007 and in some cases have increased drastically.
Mahi

The Mahi river flowing into the Gulf of Khambhat is on the verge of extinction
due to pollution and salinity. Fisherfolk and non-governmental organisations
(ngos) of Vadodara, Gujarat, blame the construction of bunds on the Mahi by
the Vadodara Municipal Corporation for the situation.

Consequently, the river is facing an intrusion of saline water from sea as there is
no surface flow to push the seawater back during a low tide

Gomti

Recently the banks of river Gomti in Lucknow were unusually abuzz. Some people
were struggling to wade through the 'sewage-enriched' river to scoop up thousands
of dead fish; the bystanders looked on, probably contemplating the peril their city's
lifeline was in. The river is one of the major sources of water for Lucknow.

The fish had died as dissolved oxygen level of the river water had dipped too low.
Officials of the pollution prevention board blame untreated muck for the sad
situation. The mass killing of fish has not been caused by sewage; it is industrial
effluents discharged by paper mills, sugar factories and distilleries in the upstream
areas of Sitapur and Lakhimpur-Kheri that spelt doom for the aquatic life.

The dissolved oxygen levels dipped to as low as one milligramme per litre (mg/l).
A minimum level of four to six mg/l is considered essential to sustain aquatic life.

Oshiwara

Due to neglect and lack of Municipal interest the rivers have become open
drains. Gated communities co-exist along with informal communities, dye
making and other light industries and cattle sheds. The waste from these land
uses are disposed, directly and untreated, into the river. Developers of housing
complexes have built high compound walls to block sight of these rivers. This
causes the river edge to get neglected and subsequently, leads to further
deterioration of the riverine eco-system. This report aims to analyze and learn
about the local conditions of one such urban river corridor – Oshiwara River,
located in the North Western part of Mumbai. The following 3 symptoms were
found as primary evidence of the larger issues – river bed and water pollution,
regular floods in the watershed, and a general negative perception of the river.

Damodar

The Damodar is one of the most polluted rivers in the country today, thanks to
the several industries that have sprouted on its mineral-rich banks. There are the
coal-based industries that dot the Damodar valley: mostly government-owned
coal washeries; coke oven plants; the country's major iron and steel plants;
thermal power plants. Zinc, glass and cement plants. The pollution was caused
by mine overburden, fly ash, oil, toxic metals and coal dust. Faulty mining
practices, outdated processing practices and lack of proper maintenance were
compounded by corruption, inadequate pollution control and a state pollution
control board that did nothing. The people living in the basin were slowly being
poisoned because the Damodar and its tributaries were the only source of
drinking water for most people living in the area.

Sabarmati

A study was conducted to evaluate the water quality of the Sabarmati, as it

could possibly be one of the major sources for filling up Kalpasar, the proposed
man-made freshwater reservoir supposed to be the biggest one in the world.
Physicochemical (temprature, pH, salinity, chloride, total dissolved solids,
turbidity, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, phenol, and
petroleum hydrocarbons), biological (phytoplankton), and microbiological (total
and selective bacterial count) analyses indicated that the river stretch from
Ahmedabad-Vasana barriage to Vataman was highly polluted due to perennial
waste discharges mainly from municipal drainage and industries. An
implementation of sustainable management plan with proper treatment of both
municipal and industrial effluents is essential to prevent further deterioration of
the water quality of this river.

Yamuna

The Yamuna starts getting polluted by pesticides and fertilisers as it enters

Haryana, most of the pollution occurs in Delhi.
Nineteen drains from Delhi open into the Yamuna. At one time, these carried
rainwater. But because of the poor sewage disposal system, water carrying
sewage is discharged into these drains, from where it finds its way to the river.
In Delhi, along a stretch, the Yamuna is choked by water hyacinth—a weed.
This is an example of eutrophication. Dead fish are also found in the river as
soon as the monsoon begins. This is due to the sudden increase in pesticide and
other pollutant levels.
Industrial wastes also find their way into the river from large industrial units (22
in Haryana, 42 in Delhi and 17 in Uttar Pradesh) and many small industrial
units. Surprisingly, though Delhi constitutes only 2% of the catchment area, it is
responsible for 80% of the pollution of the river.

Ganga

The reasons for the pollution of the river ganga are:

Thousands of bodies are crematednear the river, especially around the holy city,
Varanasi. The ashes are often released into Ganges.

The Ganges also provides water for farming land, which is increasing at
a tremendous rate.

Irrigation projects cause water levels to go down along the river. More and
more dams are being erected along India’s holy river, mainly to produce energy
for Delhi and other large cities in the area.

The river flows through 30 cities with a population of over 100,000 each. Every
day, 3 billion litres of untreated water from these big cities pass into the Ganges
River, along with remains of animals.

Because of India’s lax environmental regulations, industries along the

river release chemicals and other poisonous material into the Ganges. In some
places they are a thousand times over the allowed limit.

Especially India’s traditional leather industry needs great amounts of water. In

addition, fertilizers from the fields find their way into the ground water,
and ultimately flow into the river. Altogether, the amount of industrial pollution
has doubled in the past 20 years.

This widespread pollution of the Ganges River has also led to major health
problems. Many diseases are common, including cholera, hepatitis and diarrhea.