I usually visit Shivapuri hill once a month, for mental peace and scenic beauty. After two hours of uphill walk, I pause at Baghdwar to quench my thirst with cool and refreshing water. It is believed that pure water has no taste or smell, but I believe I can taste the water at Baghdwar, though I cannot describe the taste in words. I wish the people of Kathmandu could taste what I taste at Baghdwar, the source of Bagmati, which flows to Pashupatinath Temple and then on to Tarai region of Nepal before merging into Ganga of India. The length of Bagmati River is approximately 198 km in Nepal.
Nowadays, with rising trekking culture, Shivapuri has become a popular destination for valley dwellers. But the trekkers still have not developed a corresponding tourist culture, and they continue to throw plastic bag and litter around water sources, which slows down the natural flow of the river. Bagmati is happy and dancing in the monsoon; energetic and musical, because no rubbish blocks it, and it gives off no bad smell. [break]
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We know that most ancient human civilizations flourished around water sources, but we are still very careless with water. Water pollution is becoming an alarming issue around the globe. As a member of Community Awareness and Participation Consultant (CAPC) of Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL)’s Project Implementation Directorate (PID), I participated in a social awareness campaign for Open Defecation Free (ODF) village in Sundarijal VDC. Sundarijal is one of KUKL’s sources of water. Bagmati becomes polluted with organic and inorganic matter at Sundarijal VDC, even before it arrives at the tapping source.
Due to traditional lifestyle, poverty, and other reasons, people of Sundarijal do not construct private toilets. Instead, many villagers in ward no 1 to 7 answer nature’s call near the tributaries of Bagmati River. People of this area still believe that it is the government’s responsibility to build toilets for them. They are not aware that toilet is as necessary to a house as a kitchen.
Water is the source of life and development, and many religious groups respect water as a purifier. According to Hindu mythology, water, said to flow from the toe of lord Vishnu, spread into the earth through the hair of lord Shiva. Hindus believe that sprinkling holy water on their body will spiritually purify them. Also, it is Hindu tradition to dip a dead body in holy water before cremation. But by the time it flows by the holy temple of Pashupatinath, it is no more a river, it is a sewage canal. Bagmati accumulates all the rubbish thrown in it by the so-called educated and civilized people of Kathmandu.
There are about 2.51 million people residing in Kathmandu valley as per census 2011. Population growth rate here is 4.3 percent per annum, which is very high in comparison to the rest of the country. It is this rising population which is responsible for murdering Bagmati. Between Pashupatinath and Balkhu, water flows very slowly, due to the direct discharge of sewage and rubbish into it. Encroachment of slum dwellers and abandoned temples at the river bank decrease the beauty of the river. Water animals like fish and frogs are unable to survive in Bagmati.
Only government efforts are not enough to clean the Bagmati. The people of the valley are not as enthusiastic about cleaning Bagmati as they are about cleaning their houses. Only a joint effort from the general public, media, NGO/INGOs, civil society, political parties, religious groups, artists, sportspersons, students, and the government can make a difference.
It is praiseworthy that a government body called Higher Powered Committee for Integrated Development of Bagmati Civilization is implementing Bagmati Action Plan to prevent degradation of ecology and environment of the Bagmati. The project team is working on sedimentation basins, silt fences, and green corridor to protect Bagmati from pollution. Besides, it is PID/KUKL’s duty to deliver clean water to homes. PID/KUKL maintains sewer treatment plants in Kodkhu, Sallaghari and Malpokhari of Kathmandu Valley. Recently, Asian Development Bank sanctioned a loan worth $80 million to the government of Nepal to expand the wastewater network and treatment plant in five different areas of Kathmandu. The project, aimed to be completed in 2018, will lay about 514 kilometers of pipe to transfer sewage into a modern treatment plant with the capacity of treating 90 million liters per day. The plant will revitalize Bagmati River and improve the environments and living conditions of Kathmandu valley.
Despite these steps, the government of Nepal must enforce penal action on those who pollute the river. It must put signboards along the Bagmati and its tributaries to warn the people of the same. Local community organizations, clubs and civil society members need to be vigilant and supportive to the government in taking action against those who litter the Bagmati.
The author is a sociologist
girithejorba@gmail.com
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