Water bodies - Water carriers or Waste carriers?

“Aren’t the drainage canals meant to be a place where we throw all our waste into it?”

I came across this statement and it had prompted a long disturbing thought deeper inside me on the state of water bodies around us. Be it a well, a pond, a lake, a canal, a drain, a river, or even a sea, everything wears a mask. A mask which is least expected, unpleasant and destructive. It seems like a fantasy story to say that most of these water bodies had directly fetched fresh water serving as an open source near to us. Most of our parents and grandparents used it for drinking or washing or cooking or bathing or any other domestic purpose. We would have heard them talk about it or even some of us would have experienced the neighboring water bodies to be usable and is now either dry or full of ‘unusable’ water or had disappeared. Had we given a thought on where does the fall of neighbourhood water bodies start from? Dumping wastes, be it solid or liquid, it starts here.

Are the water bodies like ponds, lakes, canals (drainage or irrigation), rivers or even sea just meant to our sewers or dump yards where we can dispose of our solid and liquid waste and go on with our daily routine? Can we be self-pleased of disposing wastes ‘far away’ like this and not caring to what happens next? Are our waste so simple to be disposed and are water bodies adequately far away to not affect us? Is this plight to be blamed only on individuals? We can see that most of our habitations have waste collection mechanisms. But are we using it wisely and had we thought on what happens to the waste after it is collected. One has to trace this and chances are that we end up near or in a water body/wetland. From Pallikaranai wetlands in Chennai to a small dump yard in a rural neighbourhood stands a testimony to this ‘inconvenient truth’.

‘Pond ecosystem’. A very familiar word for all of us from primary school science. A model ecosystem used to demonstrate on how an ecosystem functions, what exists in a typical ecosystem format and a laboratory to know on how everything are interconnected. The main idea of having pond ecosystem I presume is because pond is commonly available and hence easy to observe, learn, interpret, comprehend and relate to. But we had lost most of this natural, inexpensive service provider and of educational value. It is not that far and so will definitely affect our health, well-being and our environment. The water not just surface but also underground sources are polluted and are being polluted by this waste menace. Air is being polluted by a burning of this wastes.

Had we given a thought of how could we solve most of our daily concerns from health to environment? Most of us recognize that living in a clean environment is essential to be healthy and at peace. However, is it so hard to have a healthy environment around us?

Some familiar scenes from our neighbourhood:

Cow feeding on a domestic garbage dumped on a roadside (Jayamurthi Raja nagar, Mudaliarpet, Puducherry)

Garbage and sewage dumped into a 'drainage turned' irrigation canal (Karumandapam, Tiruchirappalli)

Let us start thinking from our homes starting from

·   What and how do we throw - Mixing up all the waste to be thrown away, contaminating the recyclable to become non-recyclable, degradable into non-degradable (or) segregated of waste and reuse the waste and reducing the waste.

·        Where do we throw - Unmindful dumping of wastes everywhere, on street corners or vacant plots or in the drains or in a dried or a full water body (or) responsible disposal through segregation and recycling

·    What happens to it - Trace our waste starting from where do we throw it, who picks it and what is their work nature, when do they pick it, what do they do with it, do they transport it, what type of transport is used, where do they dump it.  

·    What can we do about all this – Identifying small scale solutions, advocacy of local bodies, etc. there couldn’t be template solutions. But definitely it is not going to be tougher and at the same it is not going to be without challenges. 

A Challenging feasible task. It not just essential but it is critically essential to act. 

Some more familiar scenes from our backyards,

Mixed garbage burning near a pond (Maducarai, Puducherry)

Mixed garbage dump near a pond (Embalam, Puducherry)

Stray dog feeding on a mixed waste dump (Karikkalampakkam, Puducherry)

Let us explore on what the law, policy and constitution says,

Solid waste management rules (2016), Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate change has clear prescription on the duties of different ministries and departments to local municipal bodies and authorities till individuals. Below are some relevant duties from the above discussed context.

Every waste generator shall

1. Segregate and store the waste generated by them in three separate streams namely bio degradable, non-biodegradable and domestic hazardous wastes in suitable bins and handover segregated wastes to authorized waste pickers or waste collectors. 
2. No waste generator shall throw, burn or bury the solid waste generated by him, on streets, open public spaces outside his premises or in the drain or water bodies.

The local authorities and Panchayats shall

1. Arrange for door to door collection of segregated solid waste from all establishments. 
2. Setup material recovery facilities or secondary storage facilities with sufficient space for sorting of recyclable materials.
3. Allow only the non-usable, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, non-combustible and non-reactive inert waste and pre-processing rejects and residues from waste processing facilities to go to sanitary landfill and the sanitary landfill sites shall meet the specifications however, every effort shall be made to recycle or reuse the rejects to achieve the desired objective of zero waste going to landfill.

This rules can be explored on the official website of MOEFCC - http://www.moef.nic.in/sites/default/files/SWM%202016_0.pdf

Article 51A in The Constitution Of India 1949

It shall be the duty of every citizen of India

(g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures;

(h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;
 (Source: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/867010/)

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