Ground Report: When the sacred Tawi pleads, listen..

May 8, Jammu: The River Tawi, postulated as the lifeline of Jammu, is no magnification of its glory and its significance for its inhabitants. The river, also known as the Tuhi, finds its profound mentions in the Nilamata Purana, which dates back to the 6th to 8th century CE and has a vast historical and cultural importance attached to it for having documented the history, geography, religion, and folklore of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The river Tawi is considered by the people of Jammu region as a sacred river, much on the pattern of the sacred Ganga.. The river is also known as Surya putri, which translates to the daughter of the Sun God and is still worshiped in that form. It is a belief of the inhabitants of the city that the river was brought to Jammu by “Raja Pehar Devta” to cure his father.The river Tawi has been an integral part of Jammu’s tradition and culture for centuries together. The water of the river was crystal clear and was the sole source of drinking water to the inhabitants of Jammu since the river’s inception. Hindus, the predominant religious group in Jammu, have faith that Tawi's  sacred waters have healing and restorative powers, which is the reason why people still continue to take a holy dip into it. Even though its purity and sanctity has been much altered with the passage of time.

The river originates from the Central Himalayan axis known to be the Dhaulandhar range, from below the Seoj Dhar peak, swiftly transcending through the lapse of the Kailash Kund glacier and the adjoining area of Southwest of Bhaderwah in Doda district. The Tawi River is the left bank tributary of river Chenab. It flows between Jug dhar and Trisul dhar in a westerly direction till Udhampur, where it takes a southerly bend across the Shivalik range and again resumes a westerly course passing along the Jammu city. Flowing through the city of Jammu, Tawi divides the city into two parts, old city and new city. There are five bridges over the river, two from Gumat to Vikram Chowk, one from Bhagwati Nagar to Balli Nallah other connects Gujjar Nagar with Bahu fort area and the last one is on the city bypass near Nagrota,the river then joins the Chenab River in Sialkot in Pakistan.The River Tawi as a major source of sustaining everyday life fulfills all the domestic, commercial and other needs of the people of Jammu. As much as 26 mgd (million gallons per day) water is pumped from the Tawi to cater the needs of the people of Jammu region. The River water is also used for irrigation, recreation, sewage disposal, fishing and other purposes. The river is an ecological heritage of the area with its characteristic flora and fauna. Passing through the urban settlements, river Tawi is inevitably used as depository for untreated domestic sewage, garbage, animal excreta, dead animals, agricultural runoff (fertilizers and pesticides) and detergents. Frequent dredging of the bottom and shores for extraction of sand and stones has altered shoreline morphology and disturbed the ecological imbalance in biotic community. The rapid urbanization, industrialization and increase in pollution is fast emerging as a threat to the river ecosystem. There was a time when the river was famous for its crystal clear water, but with the passage of time, the quality of water has so much degraded that it is even not suitable for bathing, owing significantly to the humongous influx in the urban population since 1901. The facilities like housing and water supply, sanitation also increased with urbanization. However, facility of sewage management has not received required focus. As a result, untreated sewage is discharged into rivers and water bodies, which in turn cause river pollution, affecting the animal life, human life, the river and the biodiversity at large. 

Source: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) website 

And the main factor underlying the pollution of water bodies, caused due to untreated sewage and drainage system is mainly due to the lack of needed infrastructure for sewage treatment. Therefore, the national and state governments have time and again come up with schemes for the construction of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) for the conservation of major Indian rivers and also for contemplative town planning and sanitation for all the states and union territories of India.

The deplorable condition of River Tawi, once known for its transparent waters:

“A Sewage Treatment Plant is a facility designed to receive the waste from domestic, commercial and industrial sources and to remove materials that damage water quality and compromise public health and safety when discharged into water receiving systems allowing human and industrial effluents to be disposed off without danger to human health or unacceptable damage to the natural environment", said Vinod Sharma, in charge of Sewage Treatment Plant, Bhagwati Nagar, while explaining the relevance of constructing a Sewage treatment plant for the conservation of river Tawi. He further added: before the existence of the STP, the River Tawi was subjected to 14 nallahs, directly flowing into its waters and polluting it. The treatment of Sewage, for disposing optically clear water into the Tawi, is a step by step process that goes through multiple stages. The first step being the removal of coarse solids and other large materials often found in raw wastewater. Removal of these materials is necessary to enhance the operation and maintenance of subsequent treatment units. The Primary treatment procedure with the objective of removal of settleable organic and inorganic solids by sedimentation, and the removal of materials that will float includes coarse screening, grit removal and, in some cases, by skimming. The secondary treatment is the further treatment of the effluent from primary treatment to remove the residual organics and suspended solids. It involves the removal of biodegradable dissolved using aerobic biological treatment processes. Aerobic biological treatment is performed in the presence of oxygen by aerobic microorganisms (principally bacteria) that metabolize the organic matter in the waste water, thereby producing more microorganisms and inorganic end-products (principally CO2, NH3, and H2O). Several aerobic biological processes are used for secondary treatment differing primarily in the manner in which oxygen is supplied to the microorganisms and in the rate at which organisms metabolize the organic matter. Common high-rate processes include the activated sludge processes, trickling filters or bio filters, oxidation ditches, and rotating biological contractors (RBC). A combination of two of these processes in series (e.g. bio filter followed by activated sludge) is sometimes used to treat municipal wastewater containing a high concentration of organic material from industrial sources, which are in turn disposed off in the water bodies for the conservation of River Tawi.

Sewage Treatment Plant at Bhagwati Nagar, Jammu:

It is to cater to this urgent need that cannot be delayed any further, that the central government under the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the Department of water resources, in association with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has come up with an umbrella scheme, called the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) for undertaking the core schemes like:
1.) Interception and diversion works to capture the raw sewage flowing into the river through open drains and diver for treatment.
2.) Sewage Treatment Plants for treating the diverted sewage.

The scheme also works for addressing some non-core schemes like:
1.) Low cost sanitation works to prevent open defecation on river banks.
2.) River front development works such as improvement of bathing ghats.
3.) Other minor miscellaneous works like plantation, public awareness, etc.

The scheme launched in 1995, presently covers 38 rivers in 178 towns spread over 20 States. Sewage treatment capacity of about 4064 million litres per day (mld.) has been created and an expenditure of Rs.4085 crore has been incurred so far under this Plan. River conservation activities such as creation of civic infrastructure for sewage management and disposal are also being implemented under other central schemes, such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JLN NURM), Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns, as well as under state schemes. The Conservation and preservation of rivers demands the collective efforts of both, the Central and State Governments. The Central Government’s aid supplemented with innovative and persistent efforts of the States can go a long way. The NRCP also works to provide information of each state on the amount sanctioned under NRCP to which city and for what purpose; also it provides data on the water quality based on independent monitoring undertaken by reputed institutions on some of the major rivers in terms of BOD (Bio-chemical Oxygen Demand) and COD (chemical Oxygen Demand) . The water quality at most locations, has improved as compared to water quality before taking up of pollution abatement schemes and the consequent construction of STPs.
However, the system lacks in providing adequate infrastructure for the smooth functioning of the mechanism for conservation of rivers, both nationally and within the state as there is wide disparity in the number of operational and non operational plants sanctioned all over the country. If we look at the micro level, there are only two operational Sewage Treatment Plants in Jammu, one in Bhagwati Nagar and the other in Satwari with the ratio almost negligible as compared to the other Indian states, as per the Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) data:

Table showing the status of STPs across the country:

Source: CPCB Website 

Pie Chart showing the status of STPs across the country:

Table showing the status of STPs in Jammu:

Ballawaria Singh, Chairman, Health & Sanitation, Jammu Municipal Corporation said, “Tawi, worshiped as a sacred river in Jammu, is in a deplorable state at present. The Sewage Treatment Plants, constructed by NBCC, with the sponsorship from Asian Development Bank is a sign of respite for the people of Jammu, for whom the river serves as a lifeline. However, the number of STPs in Jammu (i.e. just two) is meagre as compared to the drainage capacity of the city”.

On visiting the Sewage Treatment Plant, situated in Bhagwati Nagar, we found another aspect of the infrastructural negligence for Tawi conservation. There were 2 STPs of capacity 27 million litre per day and 30 million litre per day respectively. Out of the two STPs, only one with the capacity of 27 million litres per day was operational. 

On questioning the in charge of the STP at Bhagwati Nagar, Vinod Sharma, he said: “The 30 MLD plant that was inaugurated in 2016, is presently non operational due to the stalled approval of power supply sanctions and maintenance work to be carried out from the top”.
Although the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is persistent in its efforts to curb the influx of municipal waste being immersed into the river on pretext of religious activities, washing clothes on the ghats or dumping garbage into it by imposing heavy fines on the violators. The situation is still out of hand, as civilians continue to follow their religious impulse. The state government must come forth to spread awareness campaigns, as the sacred river’s tears go unnoticed and its plea unheard for a call for action by its own sons and daughters.

Images of the non operational 30 MLD STP in Bhagwati Nagar: