Rivers

NEER strives to bring back rivers of Western Uttar Pradesh, back to their lives which were earlier the lifelines of the region. This is being achieved through awareness creation among the community living on the banks, implementing pollution control measures and advocating with the government bodies responsible for the safeguard. The organization has also taken the lead to prepare the first policy draft of river polity for Uttar Pradesh, for the government to formulate a policy based on the points.

It has made potential contribution for putting focus on highly polluted Kali River (E), Ganga River, Kali River (W), Hindon, Krishni, Naagdev & Budhi Ganga. A mass campaign had been launched wherein ‘Raksha Samitis’ and ‘Nadi Rakshaks’ have been appointed in the villages located on the banks of the rivers. A documentary has been produced on the extent and causes of the pollution of the pollution and the foundation is in the process of documenting the historical importance, present situation & future of these rivers in the form of a book which would be published soon.

Hindon

Due to flowing polluted waters of Hindon and its tributaries, underground waters of villages established on banks of these rivers has also turned poisonous. Several villages are witnessing water borne diseases. Many deaths have been reported caused by deadly diseases caused straight to polluted water consumption. Even some farmers still use these polluted waters for irrigating their crops due to unavailability of alternate water source, which has caused presence of banned Persistent Organic Pollutants in the field soil and crops.

In year 2006, NEER team conducted a detailed study of the Hindon River stretch upon which Hindon’s first map was formed successfully. It was submitted to official authorities who are referring the same map till date for its planning and policies. Recently, a cleanliness drive was conducted of about 15 kms stretch of the river, which involved hundreds of community volunteers, activists and officials of the city departments. The volunteers cleared the river manually and paved way for the standing waters to flow and come back to life. The campaign went about for 50 days for the successful implication under Nirmal Hindon Abhiyan.

KALI (EAST)

The Kali River East, a tributary of the Ganges originating in Antwada village in Muzaffarnagar District flows through eight Districts of Uttar Pradesh before its confluence with Ganga River near Kannauj. The river has over 1,200 villages situated on its bank and the highly populated and pre-dominantly rural catchment is entirely dependent on the Kali River as a water resource for domestic, agricultural and industrial use while the untreated groundwater is the primary source of drinking water. Many articles and reports have been published in Hindi and English news dailies reflecting on the River and its condition by NEER.

Along with WWF India, a project was undertaken to study the quality of the Kali River throughout its catchment, comparing the deterioration of the river water quality and groundwater quality, within the span of twelve months. Also, to study the extent and movement of pollutants in aquifer due to intense contamination of surface water and placing the water quality analysis data on the GIS platform.

Mr. Raman Kant (NEER Foundation) has also taken up responsibilities as East Kali River Waterkeeper to safeguard the river body. Waterkeeper Alliance, which is based out of Manhattan, U.S.A., unites all Waterkeeper organizations, coordinating and covering issues affecting Waterkeepers that work to protect rivers, lakes and other water bodies around the world. He attended the Annual conference of WKA in years 2017 & 2018 held in U.S.A where East Kali River Waterkeeper also won the top best efforts category.