Roger Choate | December, 2002

Twenty years ago a band of citizens in Varanasi (Banaras) India launched the Campaign for a Clean Ganga. What's happened since then?

	Dr. Veer Bhadra Mishra - Searching for an alternative model suitable for Varanasi

The Ganga had been seriously polluted for decades.

So they knew there wouldn't any quick fix.

And they were right. Over the years. The Campaign for a Clean Ganga has understandably experienced its full share of successes and disappointments as one of India's pioneering environmental movements.

Even so, its very existence was a factor in the decision by the Government of India to launch the Ganga Action Plan in 1986. But it gradually became clear that the new treatment systems weren't up to the job. Ganga was as polluted as ever: a ghastly cocktail of faecal coliform, contaminants and heavy metals.

So the Campaign led by Dr. Veer Bhadra Mishra - professor of hydrology - searched for an alternative model suitable for Varanasi. He reckoned it would have to take into account frequent electrical power failures in Varanasi as well as flooding during monsoons.

Three cheers for bacteria
The result was a joint feasibility study with University of California (Berkeley) that blueprinted a non-electrical alternative. This system, used in many American communities, would intercept sewage and then move it by the force of gravity into a series of biological ponds for treatment. A powerful synthesis of algae and bacteria would transform the sewage into useable water suitable for irrigation.

Technically known as AIWPS (Advanced Integrated Wastewater Pond System), it was endorsed by the City Council of Varanasi for cleaning the key stretch of river along the 77 ritual bathing ghats. Under the Indian Constitution, cities are responsible for determining their environmental policy and getting it implemented.

But the Varanasi City Council decision was actively opposed by the state government of Uttar Pradesh. It wanted to impose a retrograde of the present electrically driven system - that won't function properly no matter what. The monsoon can flood its electrical power pumps for months; while electrical power cuts - several times daily - also disable the system.

The matter has now reached the Supreme Court of India. The justices must determine which jurisdiction should decide the fate of the revered river in Varanasi: The city or the provincial government?

Meantime the Campaign is starting to move beyond its Varanasi base. It faces numerous obstacles, including lack of public understanding and, consequently, the opposition of local bureaucracies. There is understandably a pressing need to form partnerships and close collaboration with like-minded NGOs in the Ganga River Basin.

Next step: national campaign
The Asia Foundation in San Francisco then turned up with an offer. The Campaign was entitled to receive a modest grant to network activities nationwide.

Thanks to this, the Campaign for a Clean Ganga is now holding workshops in selected cities in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Called Civil Society Partnership program, it's meant to help elected representatives of municipalities and NGOs understand the full extent of their constitutional rights and obligations under the 74th Amendment. And particularly when it comes to environmental management issues such as the polluted Ganga: Deciding how to clean the Ganga is a local right.

Some 129 people, including 24 members of regional and national media, attended the first workshop in downtown Varanasi. "I've never seen a whole cross-section of our Varanasi society gathered under one roof for a civics workshop," said Dr. R.R. Jha, head of the political science department at Benaras Hindu University and a keynote speaker.

Breakdown of participants:

• University professors, 20%
• Students, 15%
• Entrepreneurs, 20%
• Public sector employees, 15%
• Religious personages, 10%
• Shopkeepers and traders, 10%
• Local councilors, 10%