Ganga's cleaning plan is fundamentally flawed: international expert Asit Biswas

A world-renowned water expert has questioned Prime Minister Narendar Modi's plan to clean up the Ganga River, claiming that it is fundamentally flawed because it is anchored in the past and does not take into account the future. He also said that his offer of badistance in 2014 had been summarily ignored and that it was not possible to clean up the Ganga by 2020, contrary to the repeated badertions of the government.

"The whole Ganga pollution control plan is fundamentally flawed, and if the current plan could be implemented miraculously, it would still not be effective even in the medium term, let alone the long term. term, because it was mainly oriented towards the past, and does not take into account future conditions, "Asit K. Biswas, distinguished visiting professor at the Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School for Public Policy," told IANS in an interview telephone.

"By 2050, India will have 1.76 billion inhabitants and much larger industrial activities, none of which are seriously considered (accounted for) in the As a result, with a 95% probability, I can safely predict that by 2030, the Ganga as a river will be more polluted than today, even after spending more than 41%. billions of dollars by 2020, "he said.

Biswas, of Indian origin, said that if the current plan continued, he would see only more and more problems related to cleaning the Ganga in the coming years.

"It is time for the best independent water experts, from India and the rest of the world, to objectively examine what can be done to clean the water. Ganga over the next two or three decades When Uma Bharti will become the Union Minister responsible for Ganga's clean-up campaign (in 2014), I offered to meet her and advise her, at no cost, on what to do over a realistic period of 20 to 30 years.

"The letter was delivered to her office by the CEO of a Fortune 100 company that I advise, but she did not even bother to recognize it," Biswas said. co-founder of Third World Center for Water Management. in Mexico, said.

Biswas, author of more than 80 books on the management and management of water resources, said that it was unfortunate that in India, it was simply a question of "mother" and venerating her. without worrying about keeping it clean.

"Political rhetoric will never clean up the Ganga, it needs a new and good plan, and then its execution Unfortunately, there is still no viable and feasible plan; There is no plan to develop one.

"It is theoretically impossible to clean up the entire Ganges by 2020. Indian politicians did not even define what they meant by cleaning up the Ganga, normally it's all about cleaning up the river. the best we can do is: clean a small stretch of river if the action is carefully planned and executed. Nothing indicates that this is likely to happen in the long term, even for a limited stretch of Ganga, by 2020, "said Biswas, busy throughout the year in her advisory role to 19 governments, including China, and three CEOs of Fortune 100 companies.

Biswas said the Ganga is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. At present, some 50 cities along Ganga are releasing six billion liters of untreated sewage into the river. This is the biggest source of pollution. In addition, untreated industrial wastewater, containing many known but generally unknown hazardous chemicals, as well as heavy metals, some of which are carcinogens, further compounds the problem.

To this is added agricultural runoff containing pesticides and fertilizers, as well as the elimination of corpses of humans and animals. No serious long term monitoring of water and sediment quality has ever been done. Thus, the river now carries a deadly badtail of known and unknown pollutants.

This has made ritual dives into the sacred river more and more dangerous to human health over time. Last month, G.D. Agrawal, a former professor at IIT-Kanpur, died after a 111-day fast to focus his attention on cleaning up the Ganges. Unfortunately, his death did not make any discernible difference in the acceleration of cleaning efforts. Now, Sant Gopaldas is fasting to death to put an end to mining activities along the river. Unfortunately, all of this does not have much of an impact on the design of cleaning efforts that will work.

Biswas pointed out that $ 14 billion had been spent up to now for the construction of wastewater treatment plants and $ 27 billion until 2019. The vast majority of these stations, in activity for more than three years, do not work properly or with low efficiency, say various stakeholders.

Worse yet, the construction of sewer lines to divert sewage to treatment plants is lagging behind. Thus, many plants do not have enough wastewater to treat.

There is not a single vocational school in India capable of properly training people in the operation of these factories. In addition, corruption in the construction of treatment plants means that they do not work properly. In addition, the state's pollution control bodies are very largely corrupt, according to stakeholders, adding that there was no visible attempt to rectify the situation.

"Existing dams and dams now divert at least 60% of the natural flow of the Ganga and its tributaries, and 6.5 to 7 million tubular wells in the Ganga Basin are progressively withdrawing groundwater. that the flow of the Ganga is progressively less flow with increasing wastewater discharges means that the quality of the water will decrease even more, "said Biswas.

According to Biswas, ICIMOD-based climate change models, based in Kathmandu, clearly indicate that the Himalayan glaciers are melting and that most of them will be gone from here 2050. This means that the Ganga is now drawing more water from these melted glaciers than ever before. . As a result, the flow and quality of water are likely to deteriorate by 2050, when most glaciers are gone.

"No one thinks of this possibility, and these events will make matters worse," said Biswas.