Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Save water, environment and nature' that was published in Newsband

Save water, environment and nature

Decentralised sludge management systems can help achieve clean water goals. Bad sanitation is India’s worst-kept secret. India should take seriously the 2030 goal to achieve clean water and sanitation for all under the UN Sustainable Development Agenda.  

At the national scale, a United Nations report of 2015 estimates that 65,000 tonnes of untreated faeces is introduced into the environment in India annually. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan promised a major shift, but it has focussed more on the basic requirement of household and community toilets in rural and urban areas.

Immediate investments in decentralised sludge management systems would bring twin benefits: of improving the environment and reducing the disease burden imposed by insanitary conditions. Also needed is the creation of an inter-departmental task force to identify land to build small treatment systems for sludge, and to provide easily accessible solutions to houses that are currently discharging waste into open drains. The business of emptying faecal material using tanker trucks needs to be professionalised and de-stigmatised. It is untenable that manual scavengers continue to be employed. All aspects of the business of sanitation need reform in India.

Waste generation is inevitable in the process of economic and social development. It has been a major challenge to the civilisation. There are several laws and policies but their implementation is not satisfactory. Everybody is responsible to manage the environment. Governments alone cannot achieve the goals of clean environment.

Now take the case of Bengaluru. People living around Bengaluru’s Bellandur Lake wake up to the sight of froth rising up from the highly polluted waterbody every day. This has something to do with the soaps, shampoos and detergents the residents around use. Hence several residents are switching to eco-friendly, biodegradable, or fully natural alternatives to mass-produced chemicals.

It is a shame that the civic body of Bengaluru are not able to clean the Bellandur Lake. With so many scientists and engineers and a prime research Institute like IISc in Bangalore, why are they not able to solve the problem? May be the authorities are not serious on cleaning the lake. They do not seem to understand the value of natural resources. Citizens should bring more pressure on the governmentt through the local representative. They can and should also approach the right people in IISc to solve the problem.

However, the efforts of responsible citizens and environmental committees for taking steps to save the lake should be lauded.

Save water save environment and nature. It is good that people are making efforts to save the lake. But it is not good that it happened only after the lake gets polluted. People should realise before the consequences. It is good that they are using home made products to save the lake. It is duty of people living there to maintain the nqtural things there. They should try their best not to harm them. Using shampoo and detergents are important to keep ourselves clean and healthy but at the same time they are making the lake dirty. This is not good. So a good step taken by people.