God
created all things big small and the wonderful Mother Nature has
bestowed man with bounty of beautiful and magnificent creations. Snow
covered mountain tops glittering as the sun rays touch the tiny
crystals, the falling rivers that boldly part even the hardest rocks,
the vast grasslands and tall trees swishing as the passing breeze
whispers quietly , and so on, God created a perfect harmonic balance
between the plants, animals, man and their surroundings But man’s quest
to transform the world acc to his needs and preferences, have broken all
laws of nature and the world stands at the juncture of self destruction
and transience.
I
am not a nature lover or a geologist studying the shifting trends of
nature and nor am I some volunteer of any ‘save nature’ movement. I am a
simple and a selfish human being who is worried about the future of his
family as I spectate the nature being murdered by people just like me. I
wont talk of global warming and melting glaciers but will give you a
small glimpse of what we are doing to ourselves.
Here
are few rivers which once may have been the habitat of the most
beautiful aquatic life but now house our wastes. Have a close look at
these ugly rivers of the world.
Citarum river, Indonesia
Surprised?
That’s the Citarum river in West Java, Indonesia. While this river may
look like garbage pool to you but is actually the main source of water
for agriculture and water supply for the people. The river is heavily
polluted by the human activity and has no aquatic life breathing beneath
the floating wastes. In December 2008, the Asian Development Bank
approved a $500 million loan for cleaning up the river but as we see it
will take years to get back the dead river back to life.
Yamuna River, India
Yamuna
the largest tributary river of the Ganges is one of the most polluted
rivers in the world where 58% of the waste from the Indian capital New
Delhi is dumped into the river. Its very surprising to note that a total
of Rs 1,700 crore has been spent on cleaning Yamuna as well Ganges but
with all efforts turning to vain, government has finally laid its hands
down.
Buriganga river, Bangladesh
The
Buriganga River is the main river flowing beside Dhaka city, capital of
Bangladesh. The biological dead river owns its plight to the 80% is
untreated directly flowing into the river and polythenes deposited
beneath water .
Yellow river from Lanzhou, China
The
Yellow River is China’s second longest river and is the main water
supply for millions of people in northern China. But the river with
primarily Lanzhou which is the prime source of drinking water for the
two million local residences, is heavily polluted with oil spills taking
place every now and then due to industrial contamination.
Marilao river, Philippines
Plastic
wrappers, rubber slippers, banana trunks and a bloated carcass of a
dog, that’s few of the things you may find floating in the Marilao
river. The waters contain toxic chemicals such as chromium, cadmium,
copper and arsenic making the water very dangerous. Despite campaigns by
the local government and imposing fines, households still throw their
garbage, and factories release their effluents into the river resulting
in highly contaminated water.
Ganges river, India
Ganga
is the most sacred river for Hindus that emerges from gangotri glacier.
An estimated 2,000,000 people ritually bathe daily in the river,
inspite of being unsafe as chemical wastes, sewage and corpses remains
float fearlessly across the water body.
Songhua river, China
The Songhua is
a river in Northeast China, and is the largest tributary of the Heilong
River. In November 2005, the river was contaminated with benzene, that
lead to a shutdown of Harbin’s water supply.
The Mississippi river, USA
The
Mississippi River is a major economic and natural resource for the
heartland of the United States. The river drains nearly 40% of the
continental United States, including its central farm lands and carries
an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution into the Gulf
of Mexico each year.
The Sarno river, Italy
The Sarno is
a stream that passes through Pompeii to the south of the city of
Naples. It is considered the most polluted river in Europe. The
situation is aggravated by large-scale dumping of untreated agricultural
and industrial waste into the river. The polluted basin waters flowing
into the Bay of Naples also increase the sea water contamination.
The King River, Australia
The
King River is arguably Australia’s most polluted river that suffers
severe acidic condition related to mining operations.. About 1.5 million
tonnes of sulfidic tailings entered the river system each year up to
1995 with total of more than 100 million tonnes until date.
This
is just the end of my list of ten rivers that look ugly and are
dangerous to humans around them. There are hundreds more like them lying
lifeless with plastics and toxics floating above the dead water
creatures and plants. We all are educated and showing ignorance towards
the matter is not a wise behaviour we all know. But still we stay mumm
and are happy with mineral water bottles and our water purifiers at our
homes. I do not ask you to think about the world but sit and ponder
about your future. How far you can convince yourself after watching the
plight that the rivers have met today, that you have a safe tomorrow?
No comments:
Post a Comment