by Playfuls Staff |
20th March 2007
Two days ahead of World Water Day, the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) listed two major Indian rivers, the Ganges and the Indus, facing slow extinction due to grave environmental [more] risk.
"With increased pollution the Ganges and Indus rivers are becoming a health hazard and an economic problem which, the people living on the banks of these rivers are facing," Divyabhanusinh Chavda, who heads WWF in India, said, while releasing the report on Tuesday.
WWF, one of the world's largest independent conservation organizations, addresses issues like the survival of species and habitats, climate change and environmental education.
"A number of endangered species like the river dolphin in both the rivers are getting affected by state of the rivers," Chavda added from a report that highlights world's top ten rivers that are fast dying as a result of climate change, pollution and dams.
The major causes threatening these rivers are water over-extraction in the case of the Ganges and climatic change in the case of the Indus. Pollution is another factor which is degrading both the rivers with grave consequences, the WWF said in its report.
Sixty per cent of the water of the Ganges is diverted by barrages for irrigation. The immediate effect, other than the depletion of the surface water resources, is its effect on the 109 species of fish in the river.
To add to this, with increased amount of solid and untreated waste flowing into the river from various industries, the level of pollution is increasingly on the rise - posing a threat to the health of both human beings as well as the livestock.
In case of the Indus, climatic change is the greatest threat. Nearly 70-80 percent of its water comes from the melting of the Himalayan glaciers but with climate warming, the glaciers will no longer exist to moderate the flow of the river trapping it in the mesh of water scarcity.
"We hope that these reports create a buzz and ring the alarm bells so that the leaders take notice of the emergency facing freshwater now, not later. The local people living in the banks of these rivers are facing the consequences are now standing up to this problem which is a good news," said WWF India Secretary General Ravi Singh.
The WWF is undertaking a number of projects in areas around the Ganges and Indus rivers to spread awareness about conservation and teach the farmers to use organic manure and pesticides to avoid agricultural pollution.
© 2007 DPA
