CleanGanga Team | 18th June, 2002

River systems like The Thames and The Ganges (Ganga) support vast human communities and ecosystems while providing a major source of fresh water. The Ganga alone sustains 114 cities in a basin populated by 400 million souls, while The Thames in southern England, including London, supports one of the world's most urbanised regions.

Cleanup and restoration of rivers constitute a global challenge involving a sharing of best practice and other key resources. This is why the representatives of two river cleanup campaigns-The Campaign for a Clean Ganga in India and Thames21 in Britain-have decided to collaborate for the mutual benefit of both waterways.

At the same time, other river campaigners and organisations are invited to join this collaboration and its ongoing dialogue. River campaigners the world over face the same challenge: clean water for each and every human being. This goal is both technically and financially feasible.

Description of Thames 21 and Campaign for a Clean Ganga
Thames21 is a joint initiative between ENCAMS (previously Tidy Britain Group), the Port of London Authority (PLA), the Environment Agency, British Waterways Thames Water and the Corporation of London, to address poor local environmental quality on the Thames, its tributaries and the canals throughout London. It was launched officially by Michael Meacher MP in 1998.

It continues and enhances the work of ThamesClean (established 1994) and the PLA's Debris Clearance Operation (collecting up to 1,000 tonnes of litter each year from the Thames). The tidal Thames is now the cleanest metropolitan estuary in Europe and supports 119 species of fish and 350 species of invertebrate. However, it is blighted by thousands of tonnes of litter which is blown, thrown and washed into it. This litter and the high sediment levels in the water lead many Londoners and visitors to believe that the Thames is in fact a dirty, polluted open sewer. The river system also exports litter to the marine environment where it pollutes beaches and kills marine wildlife around the world, making this more than just a local aesthetic problem.

Thames21 aims to prevent and remedy this problem through a range of programmes, including its pioneering Adopt-a-River scheme, work with offenders on community service, education projects and improving the condition of the Thames Path National Trail. Over 5000 volunteers were involved across London in the last year. Over 60 reaches of river have been adopted across London, each of which is about 1km in length. The programme also operates a unique litter clearance vessel on the Grand Union Canal, Taranchewer, and has launched a Canal Keeper scheme. Many local and international businesses support these initiatives with both funding and staff time.

The Campaign for a Clean Ganga is funded and managed by the Sankat Mochan Foundation of Varanasi (Banaras), India. It was launched in 1981 by Dr. Veer Bhadra Mishra and a group of concerned citizens, with the main goal of restoring the Ganga, initially in the holy city of Varanasi. The Foundation seeks to unite traditional Indian values with the imperatives of environmentalism.

The Campaign has brought the plight of India's sacred waterway to the attention of the world - drawing upon the talent and resources of numerous volunteers in India, Europe and the United States.

Last year the Campaign embarked upon an ambitious project to clean the river in the holy city of Varanasi by means of various proactive measures, including removal of litter and refuse along the riverbank by volunteers and contractors; removal of human corpses and animal carcasses floating in the waterway; environmental training for riverside priests along the famous ghats, aimed at altering objectionable public habits such as open defecation; environmental training in a targeted public school; launch of a "mission" website, www.cleanganga.com, deliberately targeted to the media; public awareness measures, and strengthening and capacity-building of local government.

The next step is to extend these models in Varanasi to other cities in the Ganga Basin that are worst affected by river pollution.

The goal is a national campaign across the subcontinent to break through the firewall of bureaucratic and governmental indifference to the plight of millions who suffer because of river pollution. "One half of our nation guzzles aerated beverages, while the other half must make do with handfuls of muddied water," says the President of India.

The historic cleanup campaign in Varanasi is the first-ever in India-where virtually every river is polluted, sometimes lethally.

The Campaign is led by Dr. Mishra, nominated by Time magazine as "hero for the planet." He is also the high priest (mahant) of a leading temple in Varanasi in addition to being a professor of hydrology at Benaras Hindu University in the same city. He is listed in the UNEP Roll of Honour.

The challenges
The Thames is a recovering river. Effective sewage systems have brought new life to the waterway, even though litter and refuse pose a pollution problem. This is being dealt with by Thames 21 and its volunteers.

The River Ganga faces a formidable challenge

When India achieved independence from Britain in 1947, the colonial administrators left behind a few water treatment plants here and there. But times have changed, especially because of the huge growth of urban centres. More than 100 cities now spew raw sewage into the waterway-even though she is regarded as divine goddess by one billion Hindus and other believers the world over.

Goals
Representatives of these two organisations, gathered in London, have pledged to work together to achieve these goals:

• Sharing of best practices and other key resources: human and technical.
• Building of links between appropriate public and private bodies in both countries to encourage river restoration. This will include governmental bodies in Britain and India. Technical aid and other forms of collaboration will be encouraged
• Launching joint publicity campaigns to promote greater global awareness about river pollution - and how it can be stopped. A network of websites will be an important tool
• Mutual exchanges of volunteers and staff from the respective river organisations
• Establishment of Friends of the Ganga chapter in Britain
• Establishment of Friends of The Thames chapter in India
• Promoting involvement of relevant expatriate communities in the campaigns