Devising Sustainable And Innovative Ways To Clean Up Our Rivers And Lakes

Plastic is everywhere. It is there in the sea. It is there on our beaches. It is even there in our freshwater bodies like rivers and lakes - the largest source of drinking water. Ganges, which is worshipped by more than a billion Indians is also one of the top ten rivers responsible for 90% of the plastic that ends up in the sea. This has affected the world’s biodiversity which is rapidly shrinking. As an example, aquatic ecosystems have lost more than 50% of their biodiversity since the 1970s. The Covid pandemic has further accentuated this problem by increasing the amount of biomedical waste produced on a daily basis. 

Current estimates show that 8 million pieces of plastic enter our water bodies every single day. Almost the entirety of this waste is illegally dumped into these water bodies. This chokes these water bodies and stalls their flow in the case of rivers. It also destroys the ecosystem of the surrounding areas as these water bodies fail to act as a viable source of drinking water for the surrounding flora and fauna, and are often taken over by invasive weeds which further restrict the flow of water. Sustainable yet cost-effective methods to revive our long-decaying water bodies need to be found so that a developing country like India can continue to grow at a rapid rate yet simultaneously also decrease its carbon footprint.

One such method is the Floating Trash Barrier (FTB) developed by Bangalore innovator DC Shekhar. The Floating Trash Barrier comprises the installation of a lightweight barrier within the target water body with a defined flow of water. The barrier consists of a suspended net that allows the flow of water but also traps solid waste in these water bodies within the net. The installation of this project costs around Rs. 15 lakh. The FTB is one of the most cost-effective and successful ways to revive a water body in India. It has already been successfully implemented in 8 cities till now - Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Puducherry, Thanjavur, Coimbatore and Tuticorin. Shekhar who is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, explains that “this will be the cheapest model to scale up. Our floating barrier deployed in Chennai arrests 22000 tons of trash in one year. I am amazed at organisations spending 700,000 USD on an expensive boat to pick up trash in the river and take it to the riverbank. One only needs to spend 20,000 USD on this barrier.” 

The FTB does not have to be deployed on big rivers alone. It can also be used to clean smaller scale waterways like canals and drains which are often far more dirty and filled with waste. This too has been implemented in those 8 cities and has yet again yielded surprising results as the flow of these drains has improved tremendously. Using the FTB, thousands of tons of plastic has been arrested and stopped from going into India’s seas.

DC Shekhar believes that the industry should not look to clean up the oceans right now but aim to clear the flow of rivers and drains which eventually empty out into seas and oceans. He explains that clearing the world’s oceans of plastics would involve enormous costs and huge investments with maintenance of in situ processing centres in the middle of seas. This is neither feasible nor are we as technologically advanced at present. According to him, it is important that the focus remains on cleaning the world’s rivers.

There needs to be an awakening among both the decision makers and the people to ensure the implementation of environmental policies. “After graduating from IIM, I got an opportunity to travel the world. But during this while, the thought of settling abroad, never crossed my mind. I always wanted to make India a better country. Indians have the brains for innovation, all we need to show is the will” says DC Shekhar, founder of the sustainable solutions firm AlphaMers. The Floating Trash Barrier is also produced by this firm. This also makes it a desi innovation and one which is a shining example of the ‘Make in India’ impetus provided by the Indian government. Such models provide the scope for future export to nations across the world.

In an era when the quest for development and growth is driving us towards an ever increasing carbon footprint, Indian innovators such as Shekhar, are devising ways to mitigate this environmental and ultimately an existential threat to not only our nation, but the entire planet. This rapid decay of our environment needs to ebb so that an eventual revival and retrieval of our natural resources can be done. The silver lining is in the fact that there has been an increase in sustainable solutions movements in India. Movements like the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan incorporate programs which specifically target the cleaning of our rivers. Such programs result in awareness within the population and development of a consciousness for the environment.

(Contribution: Manan Aggarwal)