River Pollution - Akshat Trivedi - Iim Indore

And the Albatross begins to be avenged

Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink

Sunday 8 November 2009

The
Clean
Rivers
Movement By:
Akshat
Trivedi For:
Ashwamedha
2009 IIM
Indore

Sunday 8 November 2009

DomesBc
 Effluent

Industrial
 Effluent

Religious
 Pollutants

Polluted
Rivers •Rivers
form
the
primary
means
of

 IrrigaBon,
TransportaBon
and
supply
a
 majority
of
Drinking
water
to
Indian
 ciBes •India's
fourteen
major,
55
minor
and
 several
hundred
small
rivers
receive
 millions
of
litres
of
sewage,
industrial
 and
agricultural
wastes •The
poor
maintenance
of
Rivers
was
 evident
in
the
2006
Mumbai
Floods
 which
were
aTributed
to
the
poor
 drainage
of
the
city •Rivers
are
regularly
inundated
with
 wastes
arising
out
of
religious
fesBviBes •DomesBc
and
Industrial
effluents
choke
 rivers
due
to
their
volumes
and
lack
of
 pre‐treatment Sunday 8 November 2009

The
Mithi
River
(Mahim
 Creek)
was
idenBfied
as
 one
of
the
causes
of
the
 Mumbai
floods
 • The
river
is
full
of
garbage
 and
silt
and
thus
can
not
 drain
excessive
rainwater
 from
Mumbai • Rivers
in
Gujarat
and
other
 industrialized
states
are
 extremely
polluted
due
to
 industrial
effluents
and
 silBng
due
to
widespread
 erosion
and
deforestaBon •

CollecBve
acBon
can
help
 miBgate
the
effects
of
 polluBon
in
rivers
and
streams • AcBon
needs
to
be
sparked
on
 a
community
level
and
 iniBaBves
need
to
be
taken
to
 clean
the
rivers
 • This
would
require
a
grass‐ roots
movement
to
allow
local
 acBon
towards
cleaning
up
 polluBon • AcBon
from
the
grassroots
 would
also
enable
prevenBon
 to
be
beTer
addressed •

The
Response •Organized
acBon
from
communiBes
has
 been
used
in
various
parts
of
the
world,
 including: •North
Carolina
Big
Sweep
–
Cleaning
 streams
and

beaches
in
the
US •River
Network
–
Allows
volunteers
to
 get
in
touch
with
local
organizaBons
in
 order
to
clean
up
polluted
watersheds •CLEANIndia
–
Environmental
advocacy
 and
acBon
iniBaBve

•The
acBon
of
communiBes
is
a
 powerful
tool
that
allows
decisive
acBon
 to
be
taken
regarding
the
quality
of
 watersheds
in
a
parBcular
area. •MunicipaliBes
and
polluBon
control
 boards
are
more
involved
when
there
is
 actual
enthusiasm
around
a
cause

Sunday 8 November 2009

Structuring
the
Movement •High
profile
residents
of
a
parBcular
 locality
can
be
recruited
to
build
 awareness
around
the
cause •Drives
to
recruit
student
volunteers
and
 to
involve
the
youth
are
likely
to
be
the
 first
phase
of
acBvity •The
acBvity
would
be
spearheaded
by
 a
member
of
the
movement •However
the
enBre
operaBons
of
a
 community
project
would
be
handled
 by
community
representaBves •The
projects
would
clean
the
 community
watershed
and
also
gather
 data
about
the
level
of
polluBon
to
 present
to
authoriBes

•The
next
stage
would
be
to
garner
 funding
for
the
specific
project,
from
 industries
/
companies
operaBng
within
 the
community •Building
awareness
around
a
project
 would
be
the
next
step
and
recruitment
 would
be
opened
for
all
the
residents
of
 the
community •A
date
would
be
set
for
direct
acBon
 and
the
area
to
be
cleaned
would
be
 decided Sunday 8 November 2009

• The
Majority
of
movements
 are
structured
around
 personaliBes
and
ideals • The
Clean
River
Movement
 would
be
structured
around
 CommuniBes • Empowering
communiBes
 to
clean
their
watersheds
 and
educaBng
them
 regarding
their
 maintenance

Expected
Benefits •Use
of
technology
such
as
Geo‐locaBon
 and
mapping
would
enable
the
data
 gathered
by
the
volunteers
to
be
 recorded
and
displayed
via
the
internet •In
doing
so
the
movement
would
 provide
a
vast
amount
of
real‐life
data
 about
polluBon
levels •The
direct
impact
of
the
movement
 would
be
studied
in
real
Bme
as
more
 communiBes
join
and
addiBonal
 resources
are
raised •Awareness
of
the
enormity
of
having
to
 clean
up
polluted
watersheds
would
 also
put
in
place
a
culture
of
not
having
 to
use
so
many
resources
that
pollute •Religious
wastes
can
only
be
tackled
 using
the
community
approach,
hence
 this
is
recommended
for
the
north
 Indian
Ganga‐Jamuna
belt
which
sees
a
 lot
of
polluBon
from
this
source.

Sunday 8 November 2009

• The
lack
of
clean
drinking
 water
and
the
rapid
dwindling
 of
the
aquifers
across
the
 naBon
can
only
be
addressed
 by
a
movement
that
brings
in
 a
more
focused
acBon
 oriented
approach
from
the
 users • Government
policy
and
 puniBve
legal
measures
can
 not
subsBtute
for
 communiBes
that
are
able
to
 understand
and
preserve
their
 Water
Resources

Appendices

Examples
of
InformaBonal
 PromoBon
tools Sunday 8 November 2009

Sunday 8 November 2009

Sunday 8 November 2009

Sunday 8 November 2009

Sunday 8 November 2009

Sunday 8 November 2009