Mom, he looks like me

A Gorkha boy checks out dolls at a makeshift market on the occasion of ‘Haryali Teej’ celebrated by the Gorkha community in Dehradun on Sunday. Tribune photo: Vinod Pundir

IIT Roorkee
Morning starts with long wait for toilets, bathrooms
Roorkee, August 16
The students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have been facing a peculiar problem in the hostels these days. Shortage of toilets in most of the hostels is forcing the hostlers to queue up outside the toilets and bathrooms early in the morning, thus causing lot of inconvenience to them. In view of increased number of seats in the institute as well as starting of the IIT, Mandi here, the authorities had recently added a number of rooms in many of its hostels but it seems that the proportionate number of toilets was not constructed to facilitate the students.

Getting pure water, naturally
Neena Sharma
Tribune News Service

Water being pumped out using RBF technology in Haridwar. Tribune photograph

Dehradun, August 16
The River Bank Filtration (RBF) technique perfected by the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan promises to provide clean water for drinking from below the surface of rivers with negligible level of impurities and pollutants.

The innovative technique is expected to provide a permanent solution to impure drinking water from rivers.

River water has to undergo elaborate treatment processes before it is supplied to towns and cities.

Our main source of water — rivers and streams — are extensively polluted. Instead of using the surface water, the technique relies on channelling the water below the surface.

The RBF technique is a collaborative effort among the Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, IIT Roorkee, University of Applied Sciences, Dresden, Germany and Dusseldorf Water Company, Germany.

The technique has also bagged the National Urban Water Award for 2009 instituted by the Ministry of Urban Development on August 13.

“The technique has great potential for Indian towns and cities with poor groundwater quality or for those that rely on direct usage of river surface water for drinking purposes.

“The cost of treatment of surface water containing all kinds of pollutants and impurities are very high. River bank filtration removes all impurities in a cost-effective manner,” said HP Uniyal, Chief General Manager, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan.

The implementation of the technique is under way on the Ganga at Pant Dweep island, Haridwar. It accounts for 50 per cent water supply and the daily production of water is 32 mld.

As little as 3-5 metres of aquifer is being tapped at present. Thirty-eight per cent of water is being extracted through infiltration wells.

“Ecologically sound technology has been used to supply best water quality which is at least 90 per cent pure.

“Usually, there are a few takers for this type of technique which is both traditional and cost effective,” said PC Kimothi, Secretary Appraisal (Jal Sansthan) who headed the team that worked on the technique.

RBF is not new in India as there is enough evidence of extraction of water from wells located near river banks.

Very old wells can still be seen in Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Patna, Delhi and Kolkata.

“It is seen that soil can remove dangerous microbes and organic material from river water as it passes through the soil. The cleaner water is then pumped to the surface through wells drilled a short distance from the river,” explained Neelima Garg, Executive Engineer, Central Store, Dehradun.

River bank filtration (RBF) or bank filtration is a process of obtaining naturally filtered ground water from aquifers that are hydraulically connected to river or lake.

During RBF, surface water is subjected to a combination of physical, chemical and biological processes such as dilution, filtration and bio-degradation that can significantly improve the quality of water.

In the normal course, the water supplied through the river has to undergo several cleaning and purifying processes.

“There is always a question mark on its purity. One has to use chemicals to purify the water as we are doing at the water works supply chain in Doon. But in RBF technique, we dig very deep to tap the underground water. We can use this water exclusively for the purpose of drinking,” added Garg.

Experts opined that this ecologically sound technique would help in stabilising the environment degradation that is taking place in most North Indian states while water is extracted. The water table has gone down considerably in these states.

The presence of bacteria and viruses goes down considerably as a result of RBF. Water analyses also showed encouraging, though not definitive, signs that this technique can curtail Giardia and Cryptosporidium, two waterborne micro-organisms that cause serious digestive ailments.

The fact that soil removes many dangerous microbes and organic material has special relevance for India whose 14 major, 55 minor and several hundred small rivers receive millions of litres of sewage, industrial and agricultural waste.

In most cities and towns, rivers have been degraded to sewage-flowing drains. There are serious water quality problems in towns and villages using these rivers as a source of their water.

Passing river water through nearby sediment can not only produce health benefits but also cut water treatment costs. The cleaner water can be pumped to the surface through wells drilled a short distance from the river.

The Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan technocrats are optimistic that suitable hydro-geological conditions exist at Haridwar, Nainital, Rishikesh and Srinagar for taking up river bank filtration projects.

“The banks of major rivers are most suitable due to the thick alluvium in the Shivaliks and plains. It is also cost-effective in the long run to rely on abstract bank filtrate than to rely on direct surface water followed by treatment,” said Subodh Kumar, Executive Engineer, Haridwar.

The results of River Bank Filtration are encouraging, promising sustainable water intake for more than 25 years and the water quality too meets drinking water standard (BIS: 10500-1991), requiring only disinfection treatment.

Malpa tragedy: 11 yrs on, the pain remains
As many as 250 persons were killed in the landslide that followed a cloudburst on August 17, 1998
BD Kashniyal

ITBP personnel look for bodies on the banks of the Jakhula river. Photo: BD Kashniyal

Pitthoragarh, August 16
It was on August 17, 1998, that a landslide on the Malpa hill claimed as many as 250 lives including 60 Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims of the 12th batch.

It has been 11 years since the Malpa disaster shook the country but natural calamities in the Himalayas continue to occur at regular intervals.

The latest were the massive landslides at Lah and Jhekla villages in Munisiyari tehsil of Pitthoragarh district last week that killed 43 persons.

On August 17, 1998, debris from the top of Malpa hill slid on the Kailash Mansarovar camp with a big noise burying the inmates including pilgrims, porters, villagers and security guards.

“The Malpa incident was first tragedy in the history of Kailash Mansarovar yatra since it resumed in 1981 as well as in this region of the Himalayas,” recalled DK Sharma, manager tourism of the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN), a state government unit that organises the yatra.

“When the whole camp was in deep sleep at Malpa, stones started shooting down from the top at 12.30 am due to a cloudburst. In the next 10 minutes, boulders followed with a sharp wave of water burying the camp.

“As the stunned inmates tried their best to save themselves but were either buried or washed away by the muddy water and floating boulders into the nearby Kali river,” recalls Dinesh Gururani, a KMVN employee who was in charge of the next camp at Gala on that fateful night.

“The batch was ill-fated because it had to go to Bundi camp. It was compelled to halt at Malpa because the path was blocked due to heavy rains,” said DK Sharma.

Not only do the relatives of 12th batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims that year but also residents of villages from where more than 150 persons were swept away on that night, mourn the tragedy every year. “Almost every village from Beans and Chaudans valleys lost some members in the tragedy. An incident of such magnitude had not been witnessed by villagers here,” remembers Ram Singh, a resident of Kurila village who was a porter of the batch and survived the tragedy.

Among the victims was famous Oddisi dancer Protima Bedi. She was a member of the 12th batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims.

She was setting up a dance school near Pune and wanted to have the blessings of Lord Shiva. “She had expressed her desired to perform ‘Tandav’ dance in front of Mount Kailash to please Lord Shiva,” remembers Dinesh Gururani, who had met the dancer on the previous day at Gala.

Two MI 17 Helicopters took dozens of sorties with search teams from various agencies for almost a month after the Malpa tragedy but could retrieve no more than seven bodies of ITBP personnel who were on the duty with the ill-fated batch.

Today, the Malpa camp has again come to life. Pilgrims on their way to Kailash take lunch there and to help them, some 20 tiny shops have come up on the debris under which 250 persons lie buried.

“We have erected a statue of those who perished on the day with the help of an organisation named ‘Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Mandal’. Life and the yatra go on after pilgrims pay their respects to the victims,” said DK Sharma, KMVN manager.

IIT Roorkee
Morning starts with long wait for toilets, bathrooms
Akash Ghai
Tribune News Service