Ever thought of trying to clean up the neighbourhood river system? Consider the case of the good old Thames, derided as the most polluted river in the world just half a century ago. The river, which remained polluted for many years in the wake of the Industrial Revolution and rapid urbanisation of Europe, is now pristinely clean. And the restoration process of the Thames, identified with the grand old City of London, is still on.
The British experts who went through it all are vouchsafing for the possibility of replicating the Thames success story with the polluted rivers of India -- the Ganga, the Yamuna and scores of others now fast drying up or turning into sewage canals. To many here, the words of the Britons -- who are in the Pink City right now in connection with the 13th Birding Fair at Man Sagar Lake here -- came as some kind of a reassurance on the future of the shrinking water bodies.
“You can clean up all your rivers within 20 years. It is just a matter of having the will and working together,” say Robert Oates, Director of the Thames River Restoration Trust, and his companion, Jim Lyons, Technical Specialist from the Fish Service at Britain’s Environment Agency. “For 200 years we went through the same industrial revolution you now are having in your country,” adds Mr. Oates.
When compared to what had befallen the 300-km-long Thames -- which Mr. Oates points out is only 1/10th of the Yamuna in length -- the condition of Indian rivers does not appear to be all that hopeless really. “By 1858 the condition of the Thames was a national scandal. It was stinking and its contaminated water was the source of many diseases including cholera,” says Mr. Oates. Even in the late 1950s the Thames was classified as a “biologically dead” river, he points out.
“The past 50 years have seen a tremendous improvement in the water quality of the Thames. Its 20 species of fish are back. We are spending 50 million pounds a year even now for its improvement,” Mr. Oates reveals. An estimated 13 million people depend on the Thames for water and transport. There are many river trusts functioning along the course of the Thames. The improvements in the water quality brought back salmon, the iconic fish species in the Thames, and property prices once again shot up along the riverbanks.
“We have not yet finished with the improvement of the river,” says Mr. Oates noting that there had been a decline in the river’s water quality in recent times due to phosphates. As London gets ready now for the 2020 Olympics, the authorities are planning to spend 600 million pounds for cleaning up the river. “As many as 58 projects for restoration of the river are on now,” he says.
“The presence or the lack of fish is an indication of the quality of water,” adds Jim Lyons. “The Industrial Revolution had led to 150 years of decline in the fish population in the river. Now we have more fish species in the river than ever since the Industrial Revolution,” he says.
Interestingly, the legislation on fish in his country goes back to the Magna Carta days. In 1861 there was even a specific legislation on salmon -- the Salmon Fisheries Act.
Unlike in India -- which has a large number of indigenous fish species -- England has only 22 species of fish. After a decline in the number of the fish species to an alarming three in the Thames it has gone up now to 20 species. “We work in partnership with the fisher folk for data. The latest estimate on the species and the population is also on the basis of the fish harvest. We need to pool our experiences,” said Mr. Lyons emphasising the need for local participation for the success of such ventures.
