Cleaning Up the Rivers
Pakistan – Indus River
A Pakistan Journal of Water Resources
2006 report stated that 48 percent of the pollution in the Indus is contributed by the Ravi River – assessed by WWF as Punjab’s most polluted river and the smallest of six transboundary rivers that merge into the Indus.
Two national water sector strategies between 2002 and 2012 highlighted the need to clean up the river and included investment proposals for wastewater treatment plants (one of them in
2009 included financial support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency) but neither project went ahead.
Pakistan came up with its first National Water Policy (NWP) in April 2018 outlining the aims of encouraging enhancement of recovery and reducing system losses plus treatment of industrial effluents, but did not include details that can operationalise the solutions needed.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand – Mekong River
The Mekong River Commission
(MRC) is the only intergovernmental organisation that works directly with the water and environment ministers of the governments of Cambodia, Laos PDR, Thailand and Vietnam to jointly manage the shared water resources and sustainable development of the Mekong River.
However, the MRC has mostly just mediated the competing economic demands these countries have on the Mekong. In June 2018, the MRC released a statement about new paperfree office policies and a commitment to reduce administrative plastic consumption. ASEAN acknowledged the issue in November 2017, putting on a conference entitled “Reducing Marine Debri in ASEAN Region”.
Pakistan came up with its first National Water Policy in April 2018 but did not include details that can operationalise the
solutions needed
India – Ganges River
In May 2011, the World Bank approved US$1 billion in credit to support the cleaning up of the Ganges. In 2014, the newly elected government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Namami Gange Programme with a budget of 200 billion rupees (US$2.9 billion) to curb pollution and conserve the River Ganges.
The main components of the programme are sewage-treatment infrastructure, riverfront development, river surface cleaning, biodiversity, afforestation, public awareness, industrial-pollution monitoring and Ganga Gram, a project for “sanitationbased integrated development of all 4,470 villages along the River Ganga”.
In September 2016, the National Ganga Council (NGC) was set up to maintain ecological flows in the river, impose restrictions on polluting industries and carry out inspections to ensure compliance. Two years have passed and nothing has been accomplished. PM Modi, who heads the NGC, has had no meetings since its constitution.
State administrators have struggled to find land for new treatment plants, while complex tendering processes have put bidders off pitching for new clean-up projects. In a comprehensive audit of the Namami Gange Programme in 2017, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India found serious deficiencies and shortfalls in almost every aspect of the programme with no long-term roadmap in sight. In February 2017, India’s top environmental court accused Modi’s government of wasting tax payers’ money, ruling that “not a single drop of the Ganga has been cleaned so far”.
In September 2017, the portfolio of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation was given to Nitin Gadkari, the minister in charge of waterways which is a direct conflict of interest with the clean-up of the Ganges. In May 2018, Gadkari said in a press conference that 70 to 80 percent of the work to clean up the Ganges would be done by March 2019 and, it would be completely clean by March 2020.
The National Ganga River Basin Project funded by the World Bank is believed to be the reason for his statements. Seven years since it began in 2011, the amount of project funds used is just 13 percent of US$1billion and 0.3 percent (or US$2million) of the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) component worth US$801 million.