Newsletter No. 65;
IRBMS
seventh-longest river, may be seen by some as a waterfowl have declined dramatically as fresh
triumph of engineering and by others as a crime water has dried up.
against nature, but there are ominous new twists.
The river has been running especially low for the The same phenomena are noticed in other parts of
past decade, as drought has gripped the Southwest. the world also in the time of climate change. The
It still tumbles through the Grand Canyon, much Mediterranean, southern Africa, parts of South
to the delight of rafters and other visitors. And America
boaters still roar across Nevada and Arizona’s Lake shortages, perhaps outright crisis. In the Andes
Mead, largest reservoir in the United States, 110 Mountains of South America, glaciers are melting
miles long formed by the Hoover Dam. At the so quickly that millions of people in Peru, Bolivia
lake’s edge, in the rock walls, one can notice and Ecuador are expected to lose a major source of
distinct water lines, showing the water level far fresh water by 2020. In south Western Australia,
lower than it once was—some 130 feet lower, since which is in the midst of its worst drought in 750
2000. Water resource officials say some of the years, fresh water is so scarce the city of Perth is
reservoirs fed by the river will never be full again. building plants to remove the salt from seawater.
Climate change will likely decrease the river’s flow More than one billion people around the world
by 5% to 20% in the next 40 years. Less now live in water-stressed regions, according to
precipitation in the Rocky Mountains will yield less the World Health Organization, a number that is
water to begin with. And higher overall air expected to double by 2050, when an estimated
temperatures will mean more water lost to nine billion people will inhabit the planet.
and
Asia—also
faces
fresh-water
evaporation. It means droughts will last longer.
[Source: Smithsonian]
The river has become a perfect symbol of what
happens when we ask too much of a limited A Small Stretch is the Major Concern for
resource: it disappears. In fact, the Colorado no the Water Pollution in Yamuna
longer regularly reaches the sea now. Invasive
plants, such as salt cedar and cattails, now
dominate the delta, a landscape of seemingly
endless mud flats where forests used to stand. And
in the Gulf of California itself, shellfish, shrimp and
Although the river Yamuna flows only for 54 km
from Palla to Badarpur through Delhi, its 22 km
stretch from Wazirabad to Okhla – accounts for
about 76% of the pollution level in the river. This
stretch sees maximum discharge of untreated
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Integrated River Basin Management Society