[Reader-list] Jal Satyagraha

[Nitya Jacob]

Jal Satyagraha launched in New Delhi


19 May 2007


 


The problem of the River Yamuna is a problem of pollution
and encroachments. Both have to be tackled to restore the river to its former
glory, felt experts at a meeting organized in New Delhi
on 19 January, 2007, to
discuss the river’s crisis in the context of India’s
water problems, called by the Rashtriya Jal Biradari.


 


Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh said people
have to be involved and planning has to be decentralized for this to be successful.
In Delhi, it is essential that the
public be made aware of the need to reduce and recycle water. Rainwater
harvesting is also critical to ameliorate the city’s water problems. “We should
adopt decentralized water collection methods and catch water where it falls,”
he said.


 


Blaming the concept of sustainable development, he said this
was the main reason for environmental degradation. Rapid economic development
has destroyed both manmade and natural water bodies in India.
However, there were many models of local water management by which it was
possible to arrest this decline.


 


Former chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board
Paritosh Tyagi enumerated three measures that could solve Delhi’s
water crisis. These were plugging leakages in distribution, educating people to
use less water and accurate metering that would enable better service and
higher water tariffs. “If all these are done properly, Delhi
will not face a water crisis as it has adequate supply of water.”


 


The Yamuna’s flood plain is under threat from development.
The Commonwealth Games
 Village, Metro railway stations and
other developments planned will reduce the area available for water recharge by
half. It was 94 sq. km. but once these developments are complete, it will be
only around 47 sq km, he said. This means that the recharge potential of the
flood plain for the city’s groundwater aquifers will be severely affected.


 


Most of the river’s water is used for irrigation by riparian
states – Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. If irrigation efficiency is
increased by even 30 percent, it will make much more water available for
drinking because irrigation uses eight times as much water as domestic users
do. Delhi had a peculiar problem of
online boosters that actually worsened the water situation because these pumps
drew air and dirt from outside pipelines into the water, contaminating supply.
“People should not use online boosters,” Mr Tyagi said.


 


Arjun, who has worked with Jal Biradari convenor Rajendra
Singh for the past two decades, said trees are father, and earth the mother, of
water. Both have to be taken care of to protect our water resources and ensure
that groundwater and surface water resources are adequate.


 


Rajendra Singh said the government has to work in
partnership with people to manage water resources. “When people are given
ownership of resources, they manage them with pride, responsibility and
honesty. No government can claim to do as good a job.”


 


In the area where his NGO, Tarun Bharat Sangh works, people
have revived dead rivers through decentralized, community centred watershed
management, he said. They have taken control of this critical resource. The
Rajasthan government, under its former chief minister, passed a cabinet order
that no polluting or water-intensive industry will be allowed in the Alwar
area, where TBS works. However, the current government overturned this order in
2004.


 


As a result, 40 companies producing bottled water and
distilleries acquired land for their operations in this belt. “The people opposed
them, sat on dharnas outside their factories and we went to court to get them
shut. Nearly all except United Breweries have closed down and we have an
on-going dharna outside their factory to force them to close too,” Mr. Singh
said.


 


Yamuna is in danger and no single organization or person can
handle this. Everybody in Delhi has
to come together to tackle its problems. Instead of laying a concrete jungle,
we should build a natural jungle of 10,000 hectares on the flood plain of the
river. The people should help in reviving recharge structures and
distributaries of the river. The Ridge should be declared as a recharge zone
and the baolis and talaabs that existed there should be restored. The ghats on
the Yamuna should also be restored. 


 


The Jal Satyagraha 2007 was also launched at the event. It
aims to raise awareness among school and college children. It will create
awareness in both rural and urban India
on the optimal use of water and need to recharge to groundwater. The Satyagraha
will work with media to raise public awareness on water-related issues. It will
advocate water as a basic human right and hold camps in different states. The
campaign will also discourage people from using bottled water and drinking soft
drinks. Lastly, it will work to stop the privatization of rivers and other
water sources.





       
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