“Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.”
That the reserve of some of the physical resources of the earth is
already very low and will be completely exhausted soon because of their
steady depletion at an ever growing rate due to ever higher levels of
their consumption by an exponentially growing population and modern
technology is responsible for this is no longer a matter of opinion but
a matter fact. Even the staunchest of supporters of existing technology
will not deny this fact. It is also a fact that their exhaustion will
lower our living standards because many of our luxuries and material
comforts which the exploitation of these resources has made possible
will no longer be available. But that will not endanger our survival, we
will still be able to remain alive. There is however one physical
resource, water, without which it is impossible to live. For man, water
is the most important of all the physical resources of the earth.
Without water to drink, man would not survive for more tan a few days.
Virtually no human activity can take place without water, Not only man,
without water it is impossible for any form of life to exist. Life
itself is believed to have originated in water. This is the reason why
it synonymous with life. And it is perhaps the most abundantly
available of earth’s physical resources. Roughly three-fourths of the
earth’s surface area is covered by water. Had this surface been flat and
were all the water equally spread over the face of the earth in its
liquid form there would not be any dry land and all the continents would
be under water to a depth of one and three-quarters of a mile. It is
omnipresent. It is found not only in oceans and lakes and rivers and
streams but also under the ground and in the atmosphere. It is present
even in rocks and minerals. It is also the most distributed substance on
our planet; in different quantities it is available everywhere. It is
very difficult to assess the total water resources of the earth because
it is so very dynamic. It is always in motion in a cycle, called the
hydrological cycle, constantly changing from liquid to solid or gaseous
states in which it exists. It is in a process of continuous circulation
from the oceans to the atmosphere, thence to the land and back to the
oceans through evaporation, condensation and precipitation as rain or
snow. It has been estimated by the experts that the earth’s hydrosphere
contains about 1386 million cubic kilometers of water. A staggering
figure indeed but most of it i.e. 97.5%, is in the oceans and is saline
and not readily usable. Only 2.5% is fresh water. Of this 2.5% about
68.7% is in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in the Antarctic,
the Arctic and in the mountainous regions. Another 29.9% of that 2.5% is
under the ground. Only 0.26% of 2.5% of the total water of the earth is
in lakes, reservoirs and river systems where it is easily accessible to
man for his various needs. It is also vital for those ecosystems which
water supports.
Thus compared to the total water resources of the earth the quantity of
fresh water available for our use is insignificant, yet until not very
long ago it was more than sufficient for our needs. Its unlimited and
free availability and natural purity produced in man a careless attitude
towards its use. Today the situation has drastically changed but there
has not been any significant change to that attitude. Because of the
population explosion and technological revolution man’s requirement of
water, particularly after the Second World War, has increased manifold.
The situation has been further complicated by the problem of its
pollution which is largely the contribution of technology. Greater
demands of larger populations necessitated drastic expansion in
agriculture and industry, requiring more water for irrigation and
industrial purposes. Compared to previous decades, during 1951-60 alone
worldwide water withdrawal increased fourfold. Today this must have gone
up many times. Surface water and traditional methods of withdrawal are
no longer sufficient to meet our ever-growing needs. With the help of
technology we are now ‘mining’ water from the underground aquifers. Such
wanton interference with the hydrological cycle for more water is
fraught with dangers. If the present proportions in which water exists
in liquid, solid and gaseous states somehow get seriously disturbed or
upset, the result could be catastrophic. Too much withdrawal of
underground water, for examples, will lower its level and may cause
local subsidence. Another grave risk in the withdrawal of underground
water is its pollution by toxic minerals, particularly arsenic, which
causes many painful and incurable diseases. The urban centers which are
steadily expanding both in number and size and where such tapping of
underground water is the greatest and is steadily increasing, are
increasingly exposing themselves to these risks. Global warming has
already caused the polar icecaps to start melting and as a consequence
the water level in the oceans has risen by 8/9 inches within a very
short time. If this goes on at an ever escalating rate many low-lying
areas of the world will get permanently submerged. This will also make
inland water more and more saline in coastal regions. According to the
geologists very modest temperature changes caused glacial period in the
past and they produced substantial changes in the oceans’ levels. For
example, Pleistocene-epoch glaciers and icecaps probably used up enough
ocean water to make the sea level three hundred feet lower than it is
now. The scarcity of water and the adverse impact of man’s activities on
the hydrosphere began to be acutely felt specially in arid and semi-arid
regions and highly industrialized countries and a World Conference on
Water Resources was held for the first time by the UNO in Argentina in
1978. This conference found that the crisis was already acute in
one-third of the world located primarily in zones with insufficient
moisture, and by the end of the century it will be felt throughout the
world. Since then numerous scientific conferences and symposia have been
held and studies made and it is the unanimous view of all that instead
of abating the crisis is deepening every day and decisive action is
urgently required to avoid a catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude.
Some have even made the forecast that the days are not far away when
water will be a significant source of social unrest, and nations will
wage wars for water. How grim is the situation in respect of fresh water
will be evident from the report, Global Environment Outlook-2000,
recently published by the United Nations Environment Programme. The
report prepared by the International Forum on Globalization about the
commodification of water—presents the same picture in more alarming
details. Peter H. Gleick, Director of the Pacific Institute for Studies
in Development, Environment, and Security, has compiled a chronology of
water-related conflicts which also shows how throughout history man has
used water resources as military tools. It is not unlikely, so another
study report of the Institute by Elizabeth L. Chalecki suggests, that in
place of a high-rise building like the World Trade Centre, the terrorist’
next target would be our sources of fresh water.
The earth is a “closed system”, like a terrarium, neither gaining nor
losing much matter, including water. The physical resources of the earth
continually change their states. But in this respect there is an
important difference between water and the other resources. The cycles
through which they pass in course of their changes from one state to
another are not equal in duration. Compared to others the hydrological
cycle is astonishingly shorter. And by virtue of this cycle water
possesses two magnificent properties of self-renewal and
self-purification which no other physical resource of the earth
possesses . Because of this the same water is being recycled all round
the globe. May be the water one is drinking today was used by someone
else thousands of years ago in some other place for some other purposes.
But the tonne of coal or the gallon of petrol we are burning today is
irretrievably lost. As energy sources these fossil fuels are not
renewable as wind, water or solar power are. It took them millions of
years to from. And the tonne of coal or the gallon of petrol we will
burn tomorrow will not be those we burnt yesterday. Whereas some of the
water we are using today will get evaporated and in a few days will fall
on the earth as rain and will be available for re-use soon. The time
taken for renewal by water in its different states is, however, not the
same; they are different. They are as follows:-
1. Sea water……………………………….....…. 2500 years
2. Underground water…………………….......... 1400 years
3. Polar ice …………………………………....... 9700 years
4. Mountain glaciers ………………………....... 1600 years
5. Ground ice of Permafrost zone………........ 10000 years
6. Lakes ……………………………………… 17 years
7. Bogs……………………………………………. 5 years
8. Soil moisture ………………………………… .... 1 year
9. Rivers & Streams …………………………….. 16 days
10. Atmospheric moisture…………………… .........8 days
11. Biological water i.e. water
in living animal bodies .............Several hours
Thus it is obvious that waters found in seas, underground aquifers,
polar icecaps, glaciers and permanently frozen states take a very long
time to renew. That is to say, a gallon of water withdrawn from any of
these sources will take many years to get replenished. Moreover such
withdrawal, if made on a very large scale, is dangerous. It will have
adverse effects on the hydrological cycle which maintains a delicate
balance among the different forms of water and affects and is affected
by the climatic cycle. Nature, if left to itself, has great capacity of
correcting any imbalance, but if there is too much interference in its
normal processes, such imbalance may become irreversible and set in
motion a chain reaction affecting the entire biosphere and there is no
power on earth which can correct it. So man has to realize that the most
important resource, fresh water, though apparently plentiful is not
really so, and its careless use is dangerous to his survival.
Of all the sources of fresh water rivers and streams are the most
important because their water is very quickly renewable and they are the
most easily accessible largest source of fresh water. Early man
instinctively knew the importance of fresh water because it was
essential for his biological needs. He came to realize the importance of
rivers for other uses first when from a hunter and fruit gatherer he
became an agriculturist and found that irrigation made his field more
fertile. With the progress of his civilization he came to realize their
importance also for other reasons. As means of communication the rivers
were magnificent highways needing no cost of construction or
maintenance. As a source of power the flowing river water was
inexhaustible. The silt they carried and deposited not only increased
the fertility of his land but also built up and shaped the land itself,
as Herodotus in the case of the Egyptian delta found out. Thus they
became the foci of large human settlements and man’s social and economic
activities. Most of the early civilized societies grew up along their
banks and valleys. The river valleys are still the most densely
populated areas of the world. They satisfied his many material needs,
yet early man’s attitude towards them was far from purely materialistic.
This is evident from the important role which rivers have played in the
religious and cultural life of man from the earliest times. As a part of
his nature worship early man worshipped the rivers also, believing that
each of them was a deity. In the 8th hymn (sukta) of the 10th mandala of
the Rigveda there is an invocation of the element water, attributed to a
rishi called Sindhudwipa or Trisira, which gives us perhaps the best
idea of the attitude of ancient people towards water. Here water is
praised as the source of all happiness. By ensuring a good harvest it
provides our food. It gives us rain which is heavenly. Like a loving
mother it provides us, like her breast milk, everything that is pleasant
and nourishing. It possesses not only medicinal properties to cure the
diseases of our bodies but also spiritual powers to cure the diseases of
our mind; it gives us salvation by redeeming us from our sinfulness. In
its clean and potable state it saves the race from extinction. Hymn 75
of the same mandala of the Rigveda is the invocation of the river
systems the Aryans found on their arrival in the north- west region of
India: “5. O Ganga! O Yamuna and Sarasvati and Sutudri and Parushni!
Share this my prayer among you! O river combined with Asikni! O Vitasta!
Arjikiya, combined with Sushoma! hear my words.” Riks 7 and 8 of the
same hymn are exclusively devoted to the Indus and are remarkable: “7.
The irresistible Indus proceeds straight, white and dazzling in
splendor! She is great, and her waters fill all sides with mighty
force. Of all the flowing rivers, none is like her! She is wild like a
mare, beautiful like a well-developed woman! 8. The Indus is very young
and beautiful. She is rich in horses, in chariots, and in garments; she
is rich in gold and is beauteously clad! She is rich in corn and in wool
and in straw, and has covered herself with sweet flowers.” With the
expansion of the Aryan dominions eastwards the river Ganges came to
occupy the most important position in the pantheon of river deities. Her
origin is divine, her water is most sacred, she incarnates as a woman to
bear some fallen godlings as her children, becomes the mother of kings
and emperors, and she is the subject of a host of other myths and
legends. Most celebrated perhaps of these myths is the one in which she
is brought from heaven to the earth by Bhagirath for the redemption of
the souls of his 60,000 ancestors. Because of this religious veneration
of the rivers many cities along their banks became great places of
pilgrimage. The ancient people not only paid homage to the rivers as
deities but also loved them like their dear ones. They were given very
charming names. In India rivers have mostly feminine names and they are
very musical indeed. As if they are our loving mothers, sisters or
daughters. Only turbulent ones which occasionally cause devastation by
flood bear male names. They are like our wayward and mischievous sons.
Geographically riverine regions are distinct and support distinct
ecologies. The species of plants and animals which have evolved there
are unique. The people living in such areas have also unique culture and
characters. This is specially true in case of people who depend on river
for their livelihood like fishermen and boatmen. Whether a place is
healthy or not depends much on its rivers. Rivers have often inspired
great literature. Out of an ordinary river pilot the mighty Mississippi
made Mark Twain a great writer of immortal fame. The influence of rivers
on writers is perhaps best exemplified by the writings of Rabindranath.
It does not require much research to tell the difference between the
writings he did when at Silaidaha and those at Santiniketan. One is
thoroughly worldly while the other is otherworldly. At Silaidaha he is
basically a poet deeply in love with the physical world, but at
Santiniketan he is a sage looking beyond. He spent much of his time in
boats on the river Padma and the bunch of letters he wrote from there to
his niece Indira and later published in the Chhinnapatrabali is unique
not only in Bengali but also in world literature. Recreational
importance of rivers is also great. The blue-watered Yamuna could not
have been only a passive witness of the frolic and fun which the cowboy
Krishna used to have its banks with the milkmaids of Bridaban. As
objects of nature the beauties of rivers have great attractions. Of all
the places in his vast empire the same river Yumuna’s bank was found by
emperor Shahjahan most suitable for his Tajmahal.
As in the case of the world of nature as a whole, there has been a
similar evolution of man’s attitude towards rivers. Instead of being
treated as living beings or deities today rivers are treated as mere
inanimate objects of nature, another physical resource of the earth, to
be exploited to meet man’s material needs. And the origin of the growth
of such attitude is not recent. It began long ago in prehistoric times
when man first started to use river water for irrigation. Next to the
taming of fire prehistoric man’s greatest technological triumph was
water management which consists of digging of canals and reservoirs and
building of dams and levees. The early civilization of Sumer, for
example, was built upon its people’s ingenuity in utilizing the waters
of the two great rivers of Tigris and Euphrates to irrigate their
lands. Since then man has not looked back. Armed with his technological
power man in his ever increasing numbers has gone on increasingly
exploiting the rivers for various purpose in addition to irrigation. He
has never thought that their over-exploitation is dangerous. This is
because he has always thought that as sources of fresh water rivers are
inexhaustible. Moreover the natural purity of water has made man think
that he can go on polluting it as much as he likes. Today the
exploitation of rivers and interference with their natural regime has
crossed all reasonable limits leading to their steady degeneration.
Instead of nourishing they are now threatening man’s life. In ancient
times itself the bad effects of over-exploitation of rivers became
evident, but they were thought to be due to divine displeasure or curse.
Sumerian agriculture flourished because of irrigation and Sumerians
prospered in the land between the two rivers. They built an irrigation
system of ditches for spreading the rivers’ water over adjacent land
after the flood water receded, using large counterweighted dippers for
ladling the rivers’ water up over the banks and into the ditches. The
production of surplus grains gave them leisure and made it possible for
them to develop religion, build cities, make golden drinking vessels and
write poetry. But after some time their land became saline in patches,
the underground water table rose through constant flooding of their
fields, heavy silting raised the river beds and degeneration of the
drainage system resulted. It is not known whether the Sumerian hydraulic
engineers noticed these, but they were noticed by a poet who interpreted
them as divine revenge for immoral human conduct. A lament written about
2600 B.C. records the defiling of the gods of Ekur by the victorious
king of Agade and the kingdom was cursed as a result: “Agade, instead of
your sweet-flowing water, may bitter water flow.” And in good time the
curse was fulfilled: “Agade, instead of its sweet-flowing water, there
flowed bitter water.” As the Sumerian soil’s fertility waned and
agriculture languished, so did the cities it supported. The fields never
fully recovered; the cities disappeared. With slight variations the
Sumerian experience was repeated elsewhere also in the ancient world.
Some scholars have surmised that rivers had something to do with the
disappearance of the Indus valley civilization. This is mainly because
man has taken rivers for granted and has not been quite prepared to
understand them properly. Even today most people understand them merely
as water flowing along a channel between two banks. But in fact it is
not as simple as that. Let us try to see in brief what they really are.
The surface of the earth is not smooth but rugged. Instead of being flat
it consists of elevations like mountains and plateaus, and depressions
like oceans and lakes, plains and valleys. It is the result of the
primordial building activities of the planet which the geologists call
tectonic processes that break, bend, and warp the earth’s crust and
create the various features of its surface. The tectonic processes are
quite distinct from the forces of gradation or leveling, which operate
through weathering and tend to wear down the surface to a common level.
In this process of gradation the role of flowing surface water, among
other factors like heat, wind, rains, storms etc., is the most
important. By the law of gravity water that falls on the ground either
as rain or snow called precipitation flows from higher to lower ground.
On the uneven surface of the earth the ridges and elevations operate as
dividing lines called water divides and areas bounded by them form
distinct regions called watersheds or catchments or basins which drain
themselves of parts of the water falling within their boundaries along
some depression. Considerable parts of this precipitation are absorbed
by the ground to be stored in the underground strata of the soil called
aquifers, evaporated by heat or transpired by plants. The remaining part
of the precipitation which flows above ground, called runoff, forms
small streams, called headwaters. Gradually many such small local
streams of adjacent small watersheds join together in the course of
their journeys downwards to form a bigger stream and thus a river is
born. The divides may be both large and small. An example of a large
divide, called Continental divide, is the Himalayas. Sources of small
streams which add up to a river may be seasonal like rain water or
perennial like glaciers or large lakes. Most of the large rivers have
perennial sources. Another important perennial source of river water is
the water-bearing subsoil strata or aquifers, which a river intersects
in the course of its journey to the sea. They are like some hidden
reservoirs on which rivers depend heavily for replenishment of their
supplies. This is the reason why a river does not become quite dry when
there are no precipitations. On an average about 30% of river water is
contributed thus by groundwater on a global basis. These large rivers
carry large volumes of water and along their way to the seas receive
more water from smaller streams called their tributaries. In the final
lap of its journey to the sea these large rivers branch out into a
number of distributaries and form a pattern which is almost the opposite
of the pattern they formed in their upper reaches. The general pattern
of a river system is like a tree-- in its upper courses or headwater
regions through a network of tributaries (branches) it collects and
funnels water to its middle course or main stream (trunk) which
transports water and sediments and causes erosion and deposition, and in
its lower courses it consists of a network of distributaries (roots)
which often build deltas before finally debouching into the sea. This
pattern may vary with the variation in the contour, slope and character
of the soil of the country the river traverses. The velocity of the flow
of a river depends not only on its volume but also on the slope of the
country through which it passes. River water moves in an oscillating
manner like snakes though the general direction of a river’s flow tends
to be straight. But when it meets with some formidable barrier like a
mountain or a plateau or when the lie of the land on its way changes,
the direction of the river’s flow will also change. A major cause of
abrupt and violent changes in river courses is the tectonic activities
of the planet like continental draft, movement of plates of the planet’s
crust resulting in faults and fissures, volcanic eruptions and sudden
uplifts and subsidences of the earth’s surface. In earlier geological
epochs such activities were more frequent than now. How devastating
these elemental forces of nature, now apparently dormant, can be is
evident even from a minor earthquake. Any interference, either
deliberate or accidental, with a river’s flow will also cause changes in
the character and direction of that flow. The rivers carrying more loads
of sediments than they can flush, either because of sluggishness of
their flows or for some obstructions, will deposit a part of that
sediment in their own channels, form bars and islands, raise their beds
and will periodically be compelled to change their courses by bursting
their banks and finding fresh channels.
As the most important agent shaping the landforms the river is both a
great eroder and builder. The most glaring examples of the awesome
powers of rivers in the performance of these two diametrically opposite
functions are provided by the Grand Canyon, created by the Colorado
river and the deltas built up by many rivers at their mouths. A rivers
not only drains its basins but also carries along with the water a large
amount of sediments and molten minerals from the lands it washes and
levels in its upper reaches. The character and quantity of such
sediments will depend on the character of the catchments and the areas
through which it passes. Heavier parts of these sediments like boulders
and gravels and coarse grained sands get dropped long before the river
approaches the sea. The lighter parts of sediments like silts and fine
sands the river goes on collecting and distributing along its way,
particularly in areas where the river overspills or inundates because of
the shallowness of its channel or lowness of its banks or the existence
of distributaries or spill channels in those areas. Thus it contributes
to the building of those areas as fertile floodplains by depositing
layers of rich alluvium. Agriculturally these lands are so rich and
lucrative that the ever-present risk of recurring floods cannot dissuade
people from flocking there in ever greater numbers. According to Toynbee
civilizations have developed and flourished in such places from early
times because for larger rewards for his labors man has courageously
accepted the challenge thrown here by nature. However the most important
part of its building activity the river reserves for the final phase of
its long journey. Here the slope gets less and less steep and the
channel becomes wider and deeper. If at the place where it meets the
seas the continental shelf does not drop sharply and its slope is
gentle, the ocean currents are not strong and the tidal actions,
particularly in bay areas, act as a considerable barrier the flow of the
river becomes sluggish and it deposits its silts and sediments in heavy
quantities, raises its own bed, blocks its own way, breaks this new land
and bursts its own banks to find a new channel and gets split up into
many. The process goes on for long till at last a delta with a unique
ecology and landscape is formed.
All these should be but are not common knowledge because we do not care
to know what a river really is. Least of all we care to know that a
river is not merely an individual channel but a complex network or
system. It is not independent but is interconnected with other streams
and channels, all of which together form a network. It knows no
artificial boundaries either political or regional. It is much more than
a dominant feature of the landscape of its basin, it is an integral part
not only of the local but also of the global hydrological cycle. Its
basin is not a world in itself but an integral part of a geographical
area in which all the basins are inextricably connected like individual
cells in a living body. It is also a part of the whole environment --
the air, the soil -- both surface and underground, the climate, the
vegetable world and all the species of the animal kingdom, not excluding
man, that thrive there. And this whole environment is alive, every part
of it throbs with life. A river has a life of its own too which it lives
according to some unique laws made by nature. It would be presumptuous
for anyone from outside to try to impose on the river something not in
harmony with those laws. The myth that the powerful god Indra failed to
stop the flow of the Ganges with the help of his mighty elephant Airavat
is not without a moral and meaning. A river may not be a deity but it is
a living entity. It is neither a poetic fancy nor a myth created by
ignorant barbarians but a scientific truth. A river system may be
compared with the blood vessels in a living animal body performing the
most important function of circulation of blood which gives life and
energy to all the individual cells and limbs. The small streams are like
tiny capillaries that carry blood and keep merging together until all
the blood empties into large veins, which deliver the blood to the heart
and keep the whole organism alive Starve any of the limbs of its
nourishments, it will atrophy and become paralyzed. Cause any deliberate
or accidental damage to any part of this system, the whole body will
become sick. Rivers are highly complex systems influenced by a number of
variables and, as is the case with so many natural systems, if one
variable is changed it produces a change in the others as well. If we
cause the death of our rivers we will also die
And that is exactly what we have been doing. We are interfering too much
with the natural regime of rivers and hastening their decay and death.
To us a river is like that goose of the fable which used to lay golden
eggs; it was killed because greedy people wanted to have its eggs all at
once. In many ways we are doing the same with our rivers. In the case of
ancient Sumer, for example, we have seen what damage excessive
irrigation may cause to agricultural land. Excessive withdrawal of river
water causes no less damage to the rivers. Rivers need a minimum volume
of water in their channels to maintain their flow. In normal course the
volume and velocity of river water are not steady and uniform throughout
the year because of variations in the meteorological conditions and the
climatic cycle. The distribution of precipitation is uneven over time.
This affects all rivers and streams more or less but most those which
are seasonal. During the lean months their channels shrink, many streams
become completely dry. In the wet season they swell. This affects the
draining efficiency and sediment transporting capacity of rivers. Where
nature is able to maintain a balance or equilibrium, an ideal condition,
the river is able to keep itself in good health and its basin is able to
enjoy its blessings. But this happy state of things is rare, because
nature is always in a process of continuous change making everything in
it, including the rivers and streams, also dynamic. The river which
today is a roaring stream with a deep channel and sharp currents may
degenerate with the changes in the environment. For seasonal lack of
enough water it fails to maintain its channel as an efficient drainage
system throughout the year. As a result its bed gets gradually silted
up, its channel is choked and it ultimately dies. To keep it alive its
channel needs to be maintained by ‘training’ the river by removal of
bars and shoals and construction of levees and embankments and
prohibiting such developments to take place along its course as are
likely to interfere with its natural flow. To do this river conservancy
work properly the river should be kept under constant observation
through a number of stations along the whole length of its course where
all kinds of data--- hydrological, geological, meteorological etc.---
should be continuously collected, preserved and studied by skilled
people. If this is neglected and corrective actions are not taken in
time the inevitable will happen. The river will gradually degenerate and
ultimately die. Its once flourishing basin will also gradually
degenerate. Its economic prosperity will wane and reduced to a
collection of marshes and swamps the whole place will become unhealthy
and miasmatic and a breeding ground of diseases and epidemics.
But a river takes a very long time to die a natural death. We are
precipitating and accelerating this natural process of degeneration,
decay and ultimate death of a river by withdrawing enormous quantities
of water by building dams across it, impounding it in large reservoirs,
putting up huge barrages and diverting it through canals. This is
diminishing the volume of water in its channel and reducing its capacity
to maintain itself as an efficient drainage system. At the same time we
are overloading the river with an enormous quantity of sediments by
depriving the river basin of its vegetable cover through wholesale
deforestation. This is increasing the rate of soil erosion,
impoverishing the land of its fertility and diminishing its capacity to
absorb that part of the precipitation which recharges and replenishes
the underground aquifers which is a major source of river water. This is
also increasing the runoff and the consequent risk of flood. The
situation is being made worse by overgrazing and intensive cultivation.
Global warming is also endangering the rivers having sources in mountain
glaciers. If the Gangotri for example, the Himalayan glacier which feeds
the Ganges, completely melts without being replenished because of rise
in atmospheric temperature the great river will necessarily die. Rivers
are endangered for other very important reasons. As they traverse long
distances across many regions and countries no single region or country
is bothered about the total effect each one’s use may have either on the
river as a whole or on the regions downstream. The legal or
institutional arrangements necessary to prevent any such irrational and
uncontrolled activities are mostly lacking. In case of many
transnational rivers agreements and protocols have been signed between
countries no doubt but it is always the national interests rather than
the interests of the rivers themselves that motivate the behaviors of
the contracting parties. Academic and administrative arrangements for
training of personnel properly qualified to deal with matters relating
to rivers are either totally absent or whatever little arrangements are
there are sadly neglected. It is doubtful if there is a single
university in the world, at least there is none in India, which runs a
comprehensive course on river science or river engineering. In some
institutions hydrology is a part of their civil engineering course, but
it is extremely rudimentary in nature. It consists of a few lectures
mainly on water mechanics without any practical course. What is worse,
some professional bodies like the institutions of engineers award civil
engineering diplomas to candidates who do not have even the benefit of
attending the lectures. We are making our life-giving rivers sick and
producing physicians to treat them who are no better than quacks. Most
alarming, however, are the various ways in which we are polluting water,
particularly river water. The ancient Indian rishi advised his disciple
to pray that our rivers may flow with honey. Today already some rivers
are flowing with poison and if we go on polluting our rivers at an ever
increasing rate as now, soon the water of all the rivers will become
unfit for use. The ancient mariner of Coleridge found water everywhere
but ‘nor any drop to drink’. Soon our predicament will be the same. The
mariner committed the sin of killing of the albatross, in our case it
will be the killing of our rivers.
Man has exploited rivers for time immemorial
and has reaped immense benefits. Such exploitation has made his
civilization possible. But now it has crossed all reasonable limits. The
root causes are population explosion and revolutionary changes in men’s
attitudes and ways of life. By his excesses man has caused a great
imbalance in the realm of nature. The unnatural rate at which his number
is increasing and his unnatural greed are putting an unbearable strain
not only on water but also on all other physical resources of the earth.
Most other resources are necessary to meet the various needs of our
existence no doubt but none is as essential as water for our very
survival. As the easily accessible largest source of fresh water rivers
are of paramount importance to us. Their conservation should therefore
be our primary duty. And there is no time to lose. Man’s immediate
concern should be to conserve his available resources in usable state,
moderate his needs by arresting the population growth, restrain his
greed by changing his consumption pattern, and using the water resources
in an intelligent and wholesome manner which will meet his needs without
endangering his environment. If he himself is not able to restore this
balance by restraining his excesses nature will do it for him and it
will not be a very pleasant thing. Among all the physical resources
water is unique. Other resources may get exhausted but water cannot. The
worst that can happen is that man will make it completely unusable for
himself and become totally extinct. And what Tennyson’s brook sang will
ultimately prove to be true --- ‘Men may come and men may go but I go on
for ever’. Only this time man will go but never to come back. In fact
man is destroying his environment in a way which is making this planet
totally inhospitable for his own species and like many species which are
now extinct but which once occupied the centre stage of creation, he
will depart for ever yielding his dominant position to some other form
of life.
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