• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

MEASURES TO CLEAN OUR RIVERS WATER CONSERVATION WHEN THE RIVER STARTS SPEAKING § Increase the capacity and efficiency of Water shortage has now become a reality for sewage disposal works. us today. Insufficient rainfall has compelled the § Check the flow of industrial toxins into the river. Irrigation Department to cut down our water supply. In INTRODUCTION § Construct sullage treatment plants for waste such a situation, it is very important to harvest rain disposal. from our roofs, and recycle as much water in our Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra, the § Make pollution control equipment and other homes as possible. This way we will be less dependent Oxford of the East and the sister city of Bremen was related sophisticated gadgets available at a on the PMC and PCMC too! once better known as Punyapur or Punyanagari, which subsidized rate. reflects on the purifying power of its rivers. 1. I can monitor and control substances going § Take legal action, impose fines and punishments Pune is the only city in our country with three into my drain. whenever and wherever necessary. rivers flowing through it and merging here. Mhatre Bridge 2. I can replace harsh chemicals like phenyl, The river Mula emerges at Deoghar, 70 km strong detergents, chemical pesticides and West of Pune, and meets Pavana at Dapodi. Then, it What can fertilizers used in my house with mild, joins the Mutha at Sangam and together they flow as I do to The pride of Pune City lies in having the largest environment friendly alternatives. the Mula- Mutha to Bhima along with Indrayani and save my number of bridges over its rivers in India. These 3. I can use dry clean-up methods instead of Ghod rivers. Later Bhima merges into Krishna and falls river? bunds, dams and bridges regulate and slow down the using hoses and wet mops. into the Bay of Bengal. There are three large dams on flow of water in the rivers of Pune. Since the 1961- 4. I can contribute my labour in dredging the the Mutha, namely Panshet, Varasgaon and Panshet dam burst and the consequent flood, some riverbed and cleaning the riverside. Khadakwasla, and one across Mula at Mulshi. Besides parts of Mutha have been channelized. 5. For Ganesh Chaturthi, I shall bring home a these, there are many bunds on the river, like the bund Pune also harbours a few lakes including ‘Shadu’ idol instead of a Plaster of Paris idol at Parnakuti, better known as Bund Garden. Pashan lake, Katraj lakes, Lakaki Lake and the and donate it instead of immersing it in the privately owned TELCO lakes. river. HISTORY OF PUNE 6. I can surely motivate at least five others to follow these tips. Punua Nagari…. 7. I can ensure that my residential colony partly 16th Century A.D. or completely treats its wastewater before sending it to the drainage line by installing a small, inexpensive treatment plant in my colony. Chatrapati Shivaji A small hamlet nestled 8. Saving precious rainwater is very important. ousts the Moughals amidst three rivers My friends and I can harvest rainwater and Ruthlessly attacked by Moughals use it sustainably, to reduce the burden on Its administrative farbric is torn until … the river. th th 17 – 19 Century A.D. 1750 A.D. Birth of Urban British take over.. 1848 A.D. Peshwas rule Pune, as the water supply Bund constructed at Parnakuti to supply water to Prime Minister of Maharathas RANWA the Contonment (Research and Action in Natural Wealth Administration) Pune becomes C-26/1, Ketan Heights, near Karve Statue, Kothrud, Pune, 411 029. their cultural Socio-political Piped water from 1873 A.D. Khadakwasla Dam constructed. E-Mail: [email protected] Webpage: www.ranwa.org Katraj via Ambil Odha capital Modern Pune’s water needs fulfilled Shanwarwada RANWA is a small, decade old NGO registered as a Public Charitable Trust at Pune. Its objectives include environmental research, education and activism. QUENCHING THIRST The following graph depicts the trend of water supply / to the Municipal Corporations. RANWA means wilderness in vernacular! Its objectives include nature Environmental research, education and activism everywhere, primarily through college students. W A T E R S U P P L Y Water Supply in Pune City RANWA membership is informal & open to all. Just volunteer to help with its nature programs PMC Farmer 400 often & you become a member! 300 PCMC MIDC+ STP 200 Pune Cantonment (MM3) 100 RANWA activities include week-end nature education trails around city hills, gardens & lakes, as Khadki Cantonment Water Supply well as talks and programs for both general nature lovers and students, These highlight beauty 0 1970 1980 1990 2000 and variety of plants, birds and butterflies as well as ways to study & conserve them, beginning Years from your home garden! Research projects document plants, animals as well as destructive and MIDC of Pimpri-Chinchwad and Bhosari, constructive human activities especially in western Maharashtra. Actions promote plantation of PMC PCMC The Science and Technology Park : local plants species as well as support environmental campaigns. Water sanctioned: 54.7 Million cubic meters (MM3) Water supplied: 37.3MM3 ILLUSTRATIONS: Smita Sahasrabudhe TEXT: Archana Waran From Pavana and Khadakwasla reservoirs. MOTHER NATURE’S BOUNTY POLLUTION EFFECTS OF WATER POLLUTION As Mula and her sisters Mutha and Pavana Except on the day of Ganapati Visarjan, no § Last year (2002) Dengue fever caused unrest in weave through Pune on their way to meet mighty water from Khadakwasla has flown into Mutha for the PCMC. Bhima, they provide refuge to many life forms. past five years!!! § The drinking water of many societies in Pune is The habitat types change at every This doughnut represents the usage of 533 contaminated with germs from their own stage during the course of the rivers through the city. MLD (Million Liters per day) of water in Pune. sewage, and causes diarrhoea repeatedly. Biologists have recorded 108 species of fish, FATE OF WATER SUPPLIED TO PUNE § Sewage pollution has made ground water a 102 flowering plant species, 130 bird species in and vector of diarrhoea and also other problems in around the river. The river banks had groves of 90 82 Pune’s slums like Kasturba Gandhi, Warje, Babul(Acacia nilotica), Karanj(Pongamia pinnata) and Bhimnagar, Kondhwe Dhavade, Rahulnagar, Shindi (Phoenix sylvestris)wild date palms -in the Water consumed Uttamnagar etc. Due to this thousands of past. The river bed is an excellent foraging ground (MLD) children and grown-ups suffer each day. for snakes. Their food- rodents and frogs are aplenty. Untreated Waste Water (MLD) § There were two malaria outbreaks in Pune in 361 Waste Water 1995 and 1997, which together struck almost STORING ADAM’S ALE treated (MLD) the entire city. § The sewage workers in Pune are exposed to Pune City receives water from four major Effluent from thousands of industries in MIDC highly corrosive H2S gas, which is a silent reservoirs. Pimpri-Chinchwad receives water from Pimpri, Chinchwad and along Pune – Nagar Road, Pune killer. reservoir, “Pawana” –Solapur Road and Pune – Satara Road must treat and Even wildlife is not spared ! PANSHET –Tananji Sagar Reservoir recycle their effluent within their premises, or treat and KHADAKWASLA let it flow into the nallas. LOCATION: Haveli Taluka LOCATION: Velhe Taluka § 5 frog species, 18 fish species are now locally LENGTH: 765m Legally only certain concentrations of industrial LENGTH: 1939m extinct. 30 fishes have become rare. There was HEIGHT: 58.83m effluents are allowed for dumping in the rivers. HEIGHT: 31.79m only one fish species found at Khadki, probably STRUCTURE: Composite Unfortunately, this is not the ground truth. Neither the STRUCTURE: Composite 3 MIDC nor the pollution control board (MPCB) are willing because of inorganic salts and heavy metals from STORAGE CAPACITY: 374 MM3 STORAGE CAPACITY: 303 MM YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION: 1960 to divulge the information about the volume of the industrial area. YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION: 1869 untreated and partly treated effluents released into the § Many aquatic molluscs that were common in Water Supply through 111km long Mutha Broke & flooded Pune in 1961. rivers each day. Are they suffering from a guilty early 1960’s are now either rare or locally extinct. right bank canal conscience? Less polluted waters contain higher aquatic diversity. “Only when the last fish is caught, § Eutrophication is promoting water hyacinth and The last buffalo killed, Ipomea (Besharam) menace. The last river, polluted, And the last tree felled, The last five decades have shown that pollution Only then will mankind realize increases in geometric progression. So must the That he cannot eat money” efforts for pollution eradication. - Cree Indian Saying WHO IS RESPONSIBLE ? WHY SAVE THE RIVER? 1. It is our moral responsibility to § 10,50,000 Puneites live in slums, with protect our Nature’s precious gift to no sanitation facility and use open us. drains as toilets. 2. If a river is clean upstream, it § Inadequate sewage treatment ensures the health of the ecosystem facilities. downstream. TEMGHAR § Dams, bridges and bunds slow the 3. We cannot ignore the fact that WARASGAON- Veer Baji Pasalkar LOCATION: Haveli Taluka course of the river leading to siltation people downstream are compelled to Reservoir Dam is under construction LOCATION: Velhe Taluka and growth of water hyacinth. drink our sewage! The Ujjani LENGTH: 780m § Factories: Questionable treatment of reservoir, which has no catchment of Each year Panshet and Warasgaon dams together HEIGHT: 63.4m effluents its own, relies on the Mula- Mutha to generate 8 megawatts of hydel power. STRUCTURE: Masonry § Households : Harsh soaps and feed it. And it provides water to cities STORAGE CAPACITY: 374 MM3 bleaches: increasing utility trend. including Pandharpur and Solapur.

Load more

  2

Copy Link