Lurking fears of a water crisis have grown to alarming proportions and are staring us in the face. The latest jolt, perhaps the most disquieting, has come from the global nature conservation body, the WWF, which has reported that at least 10 major rivers of the world are drying up. Predictably, these include the Ganges, the lifeline of a third of India's landmass, and the Indus, which is no less crucial to the survival of Pakistan. The others in this category include the Nile, Mekong, Yangtze, Rio Grande, Danube, La Plata, Salween and Murray-Darling. It will be appropriate to consider rivers such as the Yamuna, whose waters either run out before reaching the sea or become unfit for gainful use after flowing only a part of its course. For that matter, even the rivers like the Nile, Rio Grande and, nearer home, Indus, do not regularly reach the sea; their waters are already over-exploited. It is not difficult to visualise what is in store for the millions of people whose livelihood is dependent on these rivers. The fate of the fish and other aquatic fauna that these habitats harbour is also an easy guess . The Ganges alone is home to some 90 species of amphibians and nearly 140 species of fish, including the unique Hilsa, which requires the river to merge with the sea, where they hop across for breeding before migrating back into the fresh water for living. Besides, most of the river basins, including the vast indo-Gangetic plain, have the world's most fertile soil to support intensive agriculture and allied ventures. | |
| If we look for the causes of the threat to rivers, many would stand out. Among them are poor management of the river waters, as reflected in excessive impounding by constructing dams; indiscriminate, even wasteful, use of the surface and groundwater in the river basins; a lackadaisical attitude to upholding the quality of the river waters; and mindless interventions in the river catchments. Besides, ill-conceived actions by the upper riparian states, such as China's massive programme for the diversion of waters of the trans-border flowing rivers to those running into its own territories, too, constitute a threat to the downstream river flows, jeopardising the existence of rivers like the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra. |
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| Yet, climate change and the consequent melting of glaciers remain the undisputed number one enemy of the rivers. Rivers like the Ganges get almost 40 per cent of their waters from glaciers. In the case of the Indus, the dependence on glaciers is reckoned to be as much as 70 to 80 per cent. What should therefore really worry everybody is that the process of climate change is showing little sign of abating despite several years of implementation of the Kyoto accord on the reduction of harmful emissions. Equally disconcerting is the dismal outcome of projects to restore the quality of river waters. Thousands of crores of rupees spent on cleaning up rivers like the Ganges and the Yamuna have virtually gone down the drain because of the poor management of water treatment plants. Public support for these measures is woefully inadequate. Therefore, the WWF seems to have done well to give another wake-up call. It is for the countries, individually and jointly, to ensure that it does not fall on deaf ears, as has been the case with most other warning signals in the recent past. |
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