Reviving a river

Presently, there is only 1% water that is drinkable on our planet, whereas it is actually covered with 70% water. The rest of it is salt water, not fit for consumption. Presently, we ignore the importance of rivers. We seem to be in no hurry to stop river pollution. But one man is on a mission to revive the rivers and ponds by focusing on their importance, through a Facebook video campaign.

If you ever want to support a campaign, you would probably want to support one like Kadavathoru Thoni, which is the campaign started by music director and singer Leela L. Giri Kuttan — to save rivers in the state. “In the last few decades, rivers in India have undergone a drastic change due to population and development. Many of the rivers have already vanished and some of them vanish once the rainy season is over. Kadavathoru Thoni is a campaign launched to make people aware about protecting rivers. This will be a multi-phase project with plans to revive the rivers,” says Giri.

He says the campaign was started on Facebook featuring videos showcasing the plight of Chithrapuzha. “With pollution of the waterbody beginning to impact their lives, people living close to Chitrapuzha and I decided to start this campaign,” he said.

“Industrial waste from companies in the Special Economic Zone in Kakkanad is polluting the river. People who use the river, especially for fishing, bathing and swimming, have been experiencing itching and skin irritations.”

The campaign’s first phase is aimed at disseminating the idea as much as possible via Facebook. “The second phase would be forming a group of volunteers ready to work together to initiate the steps to clean the rivers. For this, we need local authorities to support. So the third phase will be identifying more water bodies that are polluted and bring it to the notice of the state government. Later on, we are also planning to widen the campaign by advocating against the use of plastic,” he explains.

A number of celebrities have been supporting the campaign and came up with their videos, introducing the plight of a river or pond that they know personally. Actors Gokulan, Vishnu C.P., singer Madhu Balakrishnan and Sudhi Nettoor were among the few who supported this campaign.  The simplest way to participate in the campaign is to take a video of a river, pond or any other water body that has been hit by pollution or other problems and hashtag it with Kadavathoruthoni on Leela L. Giri Kuttan’s Facebook page.

“Freshwater is essential for our planet. Fresh water is vital for people and wildlife. It needs careful management because there’s not always enough to go around. But we've been careless with this vital resource. Freshwater environments have been mismanaged, leading to pollution, drying rivers and damaged habitats. While chasing development, we have failed to save our water resources and we all know what happened to the rivers in Cape Town, where the recent water shortage crisis has raised global concern about the threat of water scarcity. And we don’t want to be next,” he concludes.