To almost every soul that can associate with Nature well enough, the rivers are epitome of flow in life. They are not just limited to depict a meandering entity that is so full of life in every single drop.
Rather the rivers are greater embodiment of freedom, to move around wherever life takes, to submerge or integrate with anything of want, to seize anything on its way and what not.
In several surveys, people of the world have found their lives woven around these lively little beasts on Earth, those have the capability of destroying as well as spurring lives out of barren fields.
That is a river, and we are on the verge of losing many of these.
Threats to World rivers:
There are numerous challenges in sustaining a river, lest alone resuscitating it.
The dams, embankments and water-diversion systems negatively impact and inhibit the migration routes for marine organisms like fish. This derails and disrupts proper functioning of marine habitats.
Water when extracted, supplied and withdrawn for human use, causes scarcity for these habitats.
Even the runoff from agricultural fields, industries and urban sewage extremely hurts the water quality.
This pollution can thus, threaten the groundwater supplies.
Excessive nutrients flowing in the water bodies can lead to Eutrophication reducing the availability of oxygen in water and increasing Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) as well as Biochemical Oxygen demand (BOD).
In wake of this, the exotic species can invade and limit the growth of native animals and plants.
With climate change influencing every other mechanism of Nature in upcoming bleak future, this overburden on rivers can bring in floods and droughts.
River Fragmentation: A bigger threat
Scientists and Marine Researchers have time and again warned the world of dangers of such fragmentation, the major reason of these are dams.
It is worthy to note, as per the National Geographic, that “only about one-third of the world’s longest rivers remain free-flowing.”
Almost 97 per cent of shorter rivers (lesser than 62 miles) of the world still flow freely and their larger counterparts are held tightly by 60,000 huge dams worldwide, 3,700 out of these are being planned or remain under construction.
“Free-flowing rivers are found primarily in the Amazon and Congo Basins, and in the Arctic”, as per the study.
If the experts are to be believed, these free-flowing rivers provide nutrition and life for nearly millions of people thriving in world’s deltas.
It remains a wonder how these rivers pave their own courses from higher regions to saturate the sediments of plains which is crucial for their fertility, imbibe resilience to floods and droughts and access the wealth of Biodiversity.
This boundation threatens the very ecosystem services providing sustenance and subsistence for both people and wildlife and entirely depend on their survival to exist.
With the world rivers disappearing in shorter run, a staggering 20 percent of nearly 10,000 identified freshwater species have become extinct or are on the verge of it, in recent decades.
An example of a proposed Hydroelectric power plant on Mekong River has created apprehensions amongst the Enthusiasts:
“The fear is that the Mekong River will gradually become so fragmented that it will lose function and no longer be able to support the huge diversity of wildlife and the millions of people who depend on it”.
Rivers and Rejuvenation: Stories touching our hearts
“A river is a complex ecosystem. And a dying, complex ecosystem requires round-the-clock work of a committed team to breathe life back into it”, explains a Hydrologist.
Water crisis in Bengaluru called for the River plan
A 460 sq. kms Kumudvathi river faced several problems that led it to constrict like Urban exploitation and deforestation, quarrying and mining in the surrounding areas and simultaneous over-dependence and exploitation of groundwater in the city worsened the matters.
People, especially the agriculturists, saw their own livelihoods dwindling with diminishing life of this river.
Therefore, villagers concerned pooled in their resources to de-silt the damaged step walls after proper cleaning, build about 10 recharge wells and boulders to define its path.
Vegetation cover was increased in the area and even organic farming was adopted.
Heval river: the lifeline for one lakh people facing crisis in Hills
This single river is the lifeline for providing water in nearly 23 villages and entire Chamba town in Uttarakhand, which is famous for its vegetables and spices.
The river exists at an altitude of 8,000 feet, as one of the Ganga’s tributaries, formed out of a union of several smaller streams in Tehri district.
Many reasons like mining and blowing the mountains, industrial waste release, smelting of ore etc., were responsible for drying the river up and making it unsustainable as a drinking and irrigation source for many.
“Our main objective was to restore or create near natural conditions to revive the springs (the main water source)”, explains an Academician from the area.
“An innovative geo-hydrological study based on spring-shed technique was adopted. In this, aquifer recharge is the main objective and the revival of springs in the entire landscape is the key”.
“This technique has shown encouraging results as we completed revival work in 66 springs and 17 streams”, as explained in the news report.
This new endeavor helped in recharging an additional amount of ground water i.e., 865.86 lakh liters, which further led to additional discharge in 23 springs.
Not alone the river survived, it led to a massive afforestation of 697 hectares, irrigated 9,88,400 trees and shrubs providing adjustability to the local climates and cropping up employment in around 34 hill panchayats.
Therefore, it can be said: “The benefits of free-flowing rivers are countless. Rivers are the lifeblood of the planet.”
Even a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report in 2016 assessed the numbers of critically polluted segments degrading the Indian rivers to have risen from 302 to 351.
Managing the urban wastes better can reduce these perils.
While a 2013 World Bank study has way back estimated how ruining the environment has cost India approximately $80 billion per year.
River Yamuna, one of the worst dumpsters for industrial and domestic waste for a long time now, has recently come to picture because of its toxic foam.
The river, traversing the best of hilly terrains through the National Capital receives 800 million liters of untreated sewage daily and 44 million liters of industrial wastes.
Keeping this in mind, India’s civilian population can exert greater and sustained pressure on governments to ensure better recovery and treatment of wastes and lesser emission into our waters.