DISCLAIMER:

"This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental."

Three friends Annie, Tracy and Richard came to India from Europe to find out from where do the rivers originate and where do they end.

A River’s Tale

Their tour started from the Himalayas from where the rivers originate. They noticed that the mountain rivers are characterized by high slope and flow velocity, frequent rapids and waterfalls. The river water was pure and white in colour. They put their feet in a stream of river flowing nearby, the water was very cold and very soothing and fresh. They decided to follow the river to know more about it.

As they went down towards the valley, the river flow changed from high speed and frequent rapids to moderate one. The scenic beauty was mesmerising for the three tourists. They stayed for a longer period than they had planned as they wanted to spend more time with the river.

As the friends moved down towards the plains, they saw a drastic change in the colour and condition of the river. Annie was surprised to see that the river was not only dirty and toxic but the odour was unbearable for her.

They could hear holy chants and see prayer offerings to the river. Richard thought to himself, “if rivers in India are holy, how is it possible that they are so polluted.”

Looking at these conditions, the three friends initially decided to go back and leave their expedition in between, but later changed their mind just to know what happens next to the once beautiful rivers. Tracy said to her friends, “we need to know the reason for the pollution in rivers.”

They moved further towards the end of the river course. The end of a river is its mouth. Here, the river empties into another body of water—a larger river, a lake, or the ocean.

As the friends moved further along with the course of the river, all of them were shocked.

Plastic waste

Sewage water

Industrial waste

Household waste

Annie further studied the effects of water pollution

Water pollution can affect human health

Water pollution can affect environment

Finally, all the three friends decided to leave the country. Before leaving the country, Tracy said, “The rivers of India are dying a slow death. Indians need to save them if they want to save themselves.”
Richard, Tracy and Annie flew back to Europe thinking whether they would like to go on another such expedition in future.

The solution is simple actually, but still we find it hard to implement. We simply need to stop throwing plastic and other household waste into the rivers.
Industrial waste has to be stopped flowing into the river, just need to switch to another alternative which is available. There are many studies and articles on it, the problem is the attitude and seriousness towards the situation.