My City My Responsibility - Alternate riverfront development approach

Dear All, 

As per my last blog under the Sustainably Smart Pune 2030 project, as part of the pilot studies that we are conducting, we are trying to define an approach to design an alternate riverfront development plan. 

Mutha river stretch near Omkareshwar temple

Manoj from Acwadam measuring the flowrate

We are working in coordination with Jeevitnadi, for the Omkareshwar temple stretch of the river. The whole idea of this study is to come up with a holistic and local specific plan while designing any development for the riverfront. Since river is not a single entity, it is an ecosystem and connected very deeply with our lives. Understanding local peoples interaction and attachment with the river, the ecological setting, heritage structures, traffic and transport, hydro-geology, religious activities etc are some of the many aspects we considered while undertaking the study.

On the same lines while undertaking a survey on this stretch, we found that this particular stretch of Mutha river, is dominated by religious activities and heritage structures that need to be preserved in order to sustain any riverfront development. There are two public gardens in the stretch, one is the Nana Nani park and other is Vartak garden. There is a Dhobi Ghat that belongs to some trust and employs some people while drains the wastewater into the river.

There is a so-called natural spring in the riverbed area that faces the backside of Omkareshwar temple. The spring water looks clear and fresh, many people use this water for bathing and washing clothes. On interacting with these people we found that this spring has been there since ages now and is always flowing and draining into the river. On measuring the flow of spring water in coordination with an expert Manoj from Acwadam, we found that daily the spring drains more than one lakh litres of clear water slowly into the river. Now that was something interesting! Though it looks like the water is getting wasted, it has some ecological significance as well.

We are in a process of identifying local conservation strategies for the spring and the people dependent on that water. Stay tuned for more on these studies! 

The intern working on this project is an architect from D.Y.Patil School of Archtecture Ar. Vishaka 

Pournima Agarkar.

www.samuchit.com

My City My Responsibility - River revival

Dear All, 

Wetland patch in Mutha riverbed showing good fish and bird diversity

The above image is of the wetland patch that is seen near the mhatre bridge and which should be preserved as mentioned in my last blog. 

With reference to the comments that I have received in my last blog, I would like to say that, yes we need river rejuvenation program and not river development. But what does river rejuvenation or revival means. Rejuvenation or revival simply means restoration of river to its original form. 

In case of our rivers which smelled of fishes as per one of the comments, which means getting back the same water quality that is suitable for aquatic life in the rivers. With the riverfront development plan happening we as citizens should advocate for the quality of water in our rivers such that it can allow fishes to thrive and supply potable water for all. Such services provided by rivers are also known as ecosystem services. We shall see more about in the next blog. 

Pournima Agarkar.

My City My Responsibility - River an Ecosystem

Dear All, 

We saw how grey water footprint is increasing in our city and why there is a need for urgent action to save our rivers. For the same, current approach considers river to be a single entity and concreting or beautifying the riverbank is seen as the solution to restore our rivers. However, it is important to understand that a river is an entire system that consists of living (aquatic plants, animals and microorganisms) and non living (physical and chemical) components that interact with each other with the help of energy and form an ecosystem. And the area that is drained by a river is known as the catchment area or a watershed. Considering this watershed and its linkages is a crucial aspect in any river restoration program, which is clearly missing in the current river development strategy. 

Mutha river, Pune

Our rivers are the source of freshwater for us. Hence preserving our river is very important for our own survival. Also note that our river is part of our natural heritage and needs to be conserved for our future generations.

On the same lines I came across a very interesting and thought provoking message. 

Title: Water
Grandfather saw it in River
Father saw it in Well
We saw in Tap
Our children will see it in Bottle
Where will our grand children see it in Capsule???

Pournima Agarkar.

My City My Responsibility - Water Footprint of Pune

Dear All, 

Last time we saw how water is required in everything that we use and is present in everything that we consume. So today lets see what is water footprint and why it is so important??? 

Water footprint is the amount of freshwater that is either consumed or polluted or wasted in the production of goods or services. Thus water footprint is the combined measure of direct and indirect usage of water. Its important to know your water footprint simply because the source from where the water is acquired is very crucial. There are three different components of water footprint based on their source and are termed as green water footprint, blue water footprint and grey water footprint. 

Green water footprint is the water that is sourced through precipitation and is captured in the root zone of the soil, thus used by plants or the food that we consume. Blue water footprint is the water that is sourced from the surface or groundwater reserves in order to consume or produce any goods. While grey water footprint refers to the freshwater that is used to dilute the polluted water. This freshwater is the one that comes from our rivers or our groundwater sources. 

In Pune our polluted water is directly let into our rivers with or without treatment making our freshwater sources completely polluted. It also pollutes our groundwater sources like our wells and streams through percolation. Hence in Pune out of the three water footprint components the grey water footprint is alarmingly high thus turning our rivers into wastewater streams.

Mutha river Pune

Water is essential for life. Access to safe and clean water is therefore a necessary condition to the Right to Life that our constitution gives us. We must therfore advocate for keeping our rivers ecologically and sustainably clean and flowing. From this perspective, we also need to critically examine the riverfront development in Pune which fails to consider the riverine ecosystem against short term commercial interests.

We shall see what is a riverine ecosystem in the next blog. 

Pournima Agarkar. 

FOSSIL INDUSTRY – Part of the problem;not solution!

“New exposé unearths the true dirt behind COP21’s corporate sponsors"– Corporate Accountability International

There are different stakeholders in climate change talks with varying interests. Having everyone’s voices heard is part of the negotiation; but when some stakeholders interest conflicts with the main focus of discussion, it becomes a problem.

At COP 21 Paris
Image Source: http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/02/06/new-report-identifies-fossil-fuels-we-must-keep-ground-avert-climate

One such main conflict stakeholder in climate change discussions is the fossil fuel industry. Fossil fuel industry’s market lies in generating energy from fossil fuels; the main cause for climate change. Climate change mitigation strategies will reduce their market, business and profit. Hence its irony when they sponsor UN climate change (COP21) talks unless they have some hidden agenda.

To reduce global warming, there is a definite need to shift from fossil fuel to cleaner sources of energy. In this process, the obvious impact will be on fossil fuel industry. Many countries have already pledged to cut billions of dollars in the industry subsidies. Over the years, the fossil fuel industry has tried hard to not bring climate research to public; but extreme weather conditions have become so frequent that no one can avoid it any more. It is alleged that the fossil fuel industry had and still has a major role in subduing the importance of climate change and underplaying its effects. They are alleged to have suppressed climate research and blinded the truth. Fossil fuel industry is playing same strategy as that of Tobacco industry which for years denied and hid the negative effects of its product after knowing it. Exxon Mobil, the energy major is now facing numerous investigations into whether the company lied to investors and committed fraud by covering up the risks of climate change for decades.

There is a big concern that climate change negotiations are unduly influenced by fossil fuel industry. In the Paris agreement, their involvement was actively seen with many events being sponsored by the fossil fuel industry. Its common sense to see that a negotiation with such undue influence of fossil fuel lobby will not set concrete climate change mitigation policies. Corporate accountability international released a report “Fueling the Fire” which exposes the environmental destruction and public policy interference of the leading COP21 sponsors including fossil fuel majors Engie, Suez Environment as well as bank BNP Paribas and French utility Électricité de France. The report clearly shows the conflict of interest inherent in allowing such sponsorship.  As fossil fuel industry is powerful and rich, if part of the negotiations, their undue influence will continue and impact the discussions in a negative way.  Either they should be banned from the negotiations or there should be clear rules to their limits of participation.

In the mean time, as they find their business shaky, the coal industry is now looking into developing countries and racing to get coal plants build and lock these countries in coal dependence. They project coal as affordable and available resource to meet their energy requirements. It’s surprising to see a large number of countries including China, India, Turkey, Vietnam and South Africa building huge coal fired power plants exceeding their future energy demands. What the fossil industry is looking for is power plants and once they are built, these countries will become fossil fuel dependent.

The fossil fuel industry has mislead public since 1970s about the effect of CO2  for self interest. They are concerned only with their profits and money making; welfare of our planet and other fellow beings is not their concern - hence their participation will jeopardize climate change negotiations and thus should be BANNED from the discussions!

Anu Kuncheria
anukuncheria@gmail.com


References:

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/12/climate-change-summit-paris-cop21-fossil-fuels-sponsors

Fueling the fire: The big polluters bankrolling COP21 by Corporate Accountability International

Ego v/s Eco...

Man is, undoubtedly, the biggest destroyer of ecosystem... However, man, himself, is powerful enough to restore the ecosystem. The question is about priorities and choices...

Share your thoughts on today's visual...


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    Samuchit Enviro Tech.     samuchit@samuchit.com     www.samuchit.com