World Water Day 2010 Projects
Protecting the Musi, Yangtze, and Yamuna Rivers
Press Releases
About two months after the visit by US team members to advocate River protection and cleanup in India, local team members, students, and activists in Agra, Hyderabad, and Delhi, India, along with Wuhan, China led several large successful watershed
cleanup projects to commemorate the annual World
Water Day 2010.
Agra, India: Three Ghats on the Yamuna River
Cleanup Results
500+
Trash Collected: TBD
Area Cleaned: Yamuna Bank - Hathi, Poiya, and Balkeswar Ghats
Agra, March 22, 2010 - Agra's center of attention may usually be the Taj Mahal, though only until World Water Day 2010
would its ailing River Yamuna receive the care and attention of its community.
The St. Peter's College in Agra featured energized and vibrant students who were
eager to take action. Their World Water Day cleanup proved to be fruitful,
beyond anyone's expectations. Additionally, support from the faculty and
students at Agra University made the event a collaboration between key community
stakeholders. The event became the greatest cleanup success in Agra's recent
history. Over 500 volunteers from the entire community of students, faculty,
and youth joined in to save the River Yamuna.
 Riverside cleanup action took place at three ghats in Agra—Poiya Ghat,
Balkeshwar Ghat, and Hathi Ghat. Activists, students, and professionals joined
hands to pick up trash at the ghats. The event was very well received and
certainly struck home an important message for Agra's populace and politicians
about the significance of restoring the Yamuna River.
 The present mayor of Agra, Anjula Singh Mahaur, and former mayor, Baby Rani
Maurya, partook in the clean up efforts, along with doctors, journalists, and
other professionals. Agra University faculty Professor Sunder Lal, Dr. Ajay
Taneja, Dr. Rajesh Dhakrey, and many others showed their support in organizing
and participating in the cleanup. Students and science faculty from St. Conrads,
St. Andrews, and St. Patrick's Junior College (CJM) were present in full force.
Dr. Shivani Chaturvedi and the Wake Up Agra group also joined.
The Air Force wing's NCC cadets organized the Balkeshwar Ghat cleanup. The
high volume of trash collected in bags at the three ghats were disposed of by
the Agra Municipal Corporation.
In addition to providing a much-anticipated wake-up call for Agra's
politicians and community voice, the World Water Day cleanup event inspired many
youth and provided a sense of nonconformity with the presence of litter and
pollution on the riverbanks. Similar events in the near future are already
anticipated.
Hyderabad, India: Musi River Cleanup at Amberpet Bridge
Cleanup Results
53
Trash Collected: TBD
Area Cleaned: Musi River at Amberpet Bridge, Hyderabad
Hyderabad, March 20, 2010 - Rivers of the World Foundation (ROW) with the cooperation of the
local community leaders, residents and Sree Nidhi Institute of Science and
Technology (SNIST) performed a debris/ trash cleanup of a small segment on the
banks of Musi River near Amberpet Bridge on March 20, 2010, successfully. The
Bridge is on an major artery of the city and is 75 meters long. Fifty-three
(53) SNIST National Social Service (NSS) volunteers, participated in this
beneficial activity. Musi River is the life blood of Hyderabad and other
downstream communities. It is heavily polluted and the banks of the river are
loaded with debris and trash. SNIST volunteers, community leaders and area
Member of State Legislative Assembly (MLA), initiated a piece to a mammoth
project of restoring Musi River to its natural & pristine condition before man's
intervention.
Of significance of the event, is that Hon. MLA Ahmed Balala has immediately
agreed to provide the following amenities, as presented by ROW with consultation
of the stakeholders:
- Install and operate a dumpster at one corner of the bridge with high volume
garbage.
-
Subsidize costs of a nearby pay toilet from bridge, for free access to people
who cannot pay (though the amount is less than a cent), and currently relieving
on the banks of the Musi.
-
Provide support for cleanup twice in a year when garbage collects on the banks
after rainy season (September) and festival season (January). Unfortunately, in
Hyderabad the weather is quite hot on March 22, to coordinate outdoor activities
with world water day and also exam times for majority of students.
What is extraordinary is that Honorable MLA Balala went a step further and said
that he will work towards providing two dumpsters one on each side of the bridge
and also provide high meshed fence along the bridge so people cannot dump in the
river. Hon. Ahmed Balala found time to be at the site12:45 and stayed for half
an hour discussing various aspects with constituents, and Ram Koduri (ROW), and
his parting words were, "I am so excited that so many people are helping us, and
I will do everything that I can to address the above two issues; with meshed
fence, the above request item number 3 is moot as there is no chance to dump in
the river". He also came back and distributed certificates to the students.
Cleanup
The thought of this public private partnership for cleanup came up in a meeting
with Director Narasimha Reddy of SNIST when the ROW delegation from USA visited
Hyderabad, India on December 28, 2009. But for SNIST's interest and
participation, this program is not possible. Community leader Mr. Kanukula Reddy
obtained the permits, arranged the truck and and acted as liaison to Hon. MLA
Balala in addition to providing food and meeting place in his house for further
interactions with the participants. Ms. Morolia (ROW – Hyderabad) planned and
scheduled the event for February 20, 2010, but the event had to be delayed due
to local agitations, and conditions in state.
The 53 volunteers and NSS organizer Mr. Srinivasa Rao Challa, arrived by SNIST
bus and assembled about 11:15 a.m. on that day at the site. Safety training and
some pollution facts were presented by Ram Koduri; and the garbage bags (Allice
Ferguson), caps, leather and vinyl gloves, caps and masks provided by ROW were
distributed. ROW took back gloves, for cleaning and reuse. About eight pairs of
long boots were made available if any volunteers wanted, but none were used.
Boots will be reused. Caps and masks are given to volunteers for their use in
future. The volunteers were distributed into three varying size groups to pick
up debris from three corners of the bridge, the fourth corner was relatively
clean as this area is being used by washermen/women for manual cleaning of
clothes and sun drying.
Before and after cleanup (See Pictures attached/linked), every volunteer took a
pledge:
"I will pick up a piece of litter every day."
Volunteers began work immediately and worked for two hours as planned, except
for a short five minute break to hear MLA and his commitment. The temperature on
that day was close to 100 degrees F or 38 C. and with malodor, further cleaning
was not desirable. It is estimated that 80 percent of the targeted bank debris
is cleared. Additional discussion, interaction, issuance of certificates took
place in Mr. Kunukula Reddy's house before lunch. At three p.m. the SNIST bus
took off from the site.
The training included key concepts and definitions such as decompose,
biodegrade, reduce, reuse and recycle. Some materials biodegrade more slowly
than others – glass and plastic bottles 400-500 years, aluminum cans 200 – 300
years, whereas banana peels biodegrade in two months only.
Wuhan, China: Yangtze River
Cleanup Results
276
Trash Collected: 1050 kg
Area Cleaned: Yangtze-Kiang River Bank (6 km stretch)
Wuhan, March 22, 2010 - Starting with the World Water Day cleanup in
Wuhan City, the Rivers of the World Foundation inspired its first environmental
cleanup event in China. Along a 6-kilometer riverbank stretch of the mighty
Yangtze River, students collected about 1050 kg in a successful trash cleanup.
 A total of 276 community members and local university students from Wuhan
City joined hands to collect trash on the long riverbank. The use of recycling
added to the event's environmental success, as the 420 bags of garbage picked up
were divided into recyclable and non-recyclable groups.
In addition to beautifying the Wuhan Hankou Yangtze Riverside Park, the Wuhan
City community has demonstrated its river stewardship. The students and
organizers are thankful for the inspiration and guidance of the Rivers of the
World Foundation members.
Delhi, India: Yamuna River
Cleanup Results
212
Trash Collected: 127 bags
Area Cleaned: Yamuna Bank near Mayur Vihar
New Delhi, March 22, 2010 - Girish Chaudhry, Country Director, Rivers of the World Foundation, conducted the Yamuna trash cleanup in a big way this year under the initiative and active support of the Leela Foundation.
This Yamuna Cleaning Drive, conducted on March 21, 2010 was titled "Yamuna Manthan" by the Leela Foundation . The drive, organised a day prior to World Water Day, was successfully held in collaboration with Rivers of the World Foundation and Alice Ferguson Foundation.
Students were taken to the river banks and were properly equipped with gloves and bags provided by the Alice Ferguson Foundation. The event successfully brought attention to the issue of community river
stewardship.
Report on "Yamuna Manthan" : On the drive day, all the volunteers, around 212 in number, assembled at Mayur Vihar Phase 1 Metro station in east Delhi area. They included students from various Delhi University colleges viz. Kalindi College, Dyal Singh College, Gargi College, Kamla Nehru college and Venkateshwara College, along with some from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and IHM Pusa institute. There were young volunteers from schools also including Adarsh Public School, Delhi Public School and Indraprastha School. Last but not the least, many officials from the corporate world also took out time and volunteered for this important cause.
At around 1030 hrs, the volunteers, proudly called as "Yamuna Soldiers", led a march from the metro station till the ultimate destination -- Yamuna river. Raising slogans "Gandagi hatao, Yamuna Bachao" (Remove garbage, save Yamuna) and carrying foundations' banners, the energetic volunteers did a 2-km-long walkathon. Since the march was held in presence of the area inhabitants, the latter were also motivated to join them.
More than 50 children from among the locals came forward to contribute in the cause.
To encourage the young volunteers , the Foundation had invited the Lions Club fraternity from District 321-A1/ A2 and citizens of Delhi. The District Governor of Lions Club Lion M G Agarwal, who was the Chief Guest at the event, interacted with the gathering and explained them the importance of restoring Yamuna to its original health. A Yamuna prayer was also recited before the inauguration of the drive by the Chief Guest through ribbon-cutting.
Meticulous arrangements were made for the volunteers in order to ensure their security and safety. Officials from the Delhi Flood control Department, Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Police were deployed to handle any emergency call.
During the cleaning drive, that started at around 1200 hrs and went up till 1530 hrs, a total of 127 trash bags were filled up with garbage and disposed off by Municipality trucks. The trash consisted of plastic, clothes, flowers, steel, rubber, cardboard, jute etc. It may be noted that due to unavoidable reasons, the weight of the total trash could not be weighed and the items were not segregated in this drive. Special care of this will be taken in future.
Yamuna Pamphlets, printed in Hindi language keeping in mind the concern of local residents, were distributed to the people present. Along with getting into action to clean the river, the volunteers educated the inhabitants on maintaining the hygiene & sanitation of the area and stop littering in Yamuna and also on the roads. In order to boost the morale of the slum dwellers, the Foundation team pinned Leela Foundation badges on all of them.
Refreshment and juice were also served to all the volunteers and inhabitants around the Yamuna river at the end of the Cleanliness Drive.
More Pictures
Agra, India
 
 
 
 
 
Hyderabad, India
Before Cleanup
 
 
During/After Cleanup
 
 
 
 
Wuhan, China
Delhi, India
 
 
 
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