ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM

India faces huge water problems. The UNEP expects severe water crises and conflicts in India by 2025.

While the Chennai Water Forumprovided an arena to create a “newdialogue” by integrating a widecross-section and variety of ex-perts, professionals and citizens,few people spoke about their per-sonal relationship with water, theirstories and memories. Stories havethe power to stir our emotions, andone concrete case in our family orcircle of friends can move us moreprofoundly than hundreds of casesin the news. We can tell our storiesin private, but to make them part ofsocial and political change weshould share them on traditionaland social media, web sites, andblogs. Water is an eminent publicand re-publican political issue(what the Greeks called res pu-blica). It is equally important tomake known our visions: let meshare some of my river stories.Ri-vers have always excited me. Fromtheir banks or bridges I watch andfeel them agitated or peaceful,watch with humility and admirationtheir wild power or their calm ma-jesty, their grace and their might. Ihave seen and experienced many ri-vers in my life but there is one thatshaped me the most.I grew up on the River Neckar in

Southwest Germany, a “typical”river in many ways. The nameseems to have been derived fromCeltic Nikros, meaning ‘wildwater’ or ‘wild fellow’ which per-fectly describes the nature of a riverbefore human meddling. Risingfrom a wetland in the Black Forestit flows through a densely popula-ted and industrialized area whereDaimler AG which produces Benzcars is located. On its way the rivermeanders through the scenic Nec-kar valley with steep hills, vi-neyards, forests, fields, small towns

and villages with the spires andbel-fries.When it reaches the forested area

of Odenwald and approaches theold university town of Heidelberg(where I studied in the 1970s),many old castles and ruins of cas-tles appear on the picturesque hills.The Neckar also passes two Nu-

clear Power Plants, one of themfortunately shut down, the otherone waiting to be closed in keepingwith Germany’s anti-nuclear poli-tics. After passing Heidelberg, inthe town of Mannheim the Neckardischarges its water into the Rhine,that forms an important part of Ger-many’s political history, economicsuccess and its rich cultural heri-tage and mythology. At a sharp turnof the Rhine, the beautiful Loreleisits up on the hill combing herbeautiful long hair. Thus she dis-tracted the attention of many a bar-ges’ captain leading them to theirdoom, old legend so beautifully tur-ned into poetry by Heinrich Heine. The town of Mannheim shaped

my youth. My friends and I fre-quented the pubs and danced in theclubs or discotheques to the newsounds of Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floydor the Rolling Stones. The most po-pular landmark, also a bus terminal,was where - in a kind of fevereduncertainty – we waited for ourfirst dates, was the Wasserturm, anawesome water tower built in 1886.Rising to 200 feet above the sur-rounding art nouveau square in thecentre of Mannheim, the Wasser-turm was and still is a popular civicsymbol. As kids we watched the ships go

by - the Neckar was navigable and“Father Rhine” was Western Euro-pe’s most important waterway. Andwe used to swim in the Neckarcanal, enjoying our freedom afterschool. Only later did we realize

that the river was highly pollutedfrom the chemical factory close by.In the 1960s also the Rhine becamea stinking sewage river changingcolours after chemicals from BASFand many others were released intoit. The leak after a fire at SwissSandoz pharmaceutical factory wasone of Europe’s worst environmen-tal disasters. Within 10 days thepollution had travelled all the wayto the North Sea and had killed anestimated half a million fish, wi-ping out some species entirely.There was a huge public protestmovement resulting in the RhineAction Programme of 1987 whichaimed at the return of salmon by

2000. Salmon - known for its sen-sitivity to pollution - was alreadyback by 1997. Now more than 60species live in the Rhine and thepeople have started to swim in theriver in some parts. So the Rhine, together with the

Thames and other big rivers is aconvincing example that change ispossible, if there is a strong demandand political will.After having lived on the Nile in

Cairo, the Rio Mapocho in San-tiago de Chile, the Seine in Parisand the Isar in Munich, after havingseen the Amazon in Belem/Brazil,the Danube in Belgrade, the Mos-kwa in Moscow, I came to Chennai

in 2014. We stayed exactly 105days in the Taj Connemara. Oneday, in the big swimming pool Irealized that from within that blueoasis every now and then a distur-bing foul smell arose. In search ofthe origin of that stench, I steppedout of the hotel, turned left until Icame to a bridge over the RiverCooum. I fell sick from the obtru-sive stink. I bent over the low walland looked at the river. A blackstagnant liquid with excrement andother ugly objects stood below thebridge. The shock was deep, but itwas even more disconcerting whenI first saw the Buckingham Canal;the stench was even moreoverpo-wering. People defecated on itsbanks, heaps of gabage were srewneverywhere, clothes were washednear-by. I felt miserable because Ithought this was not possible. Isuppose in those early moments theseeds for the big water project weresown. I once met a man on the banks

of the Yamuna who knew all aboutthe modern evils of the river, mil-lions of e-coli bacteria, a lot of pol-lution. Minutes later he took a bathin the same river, worshipping itand washing his sins away. Someone explained to me that

people experience two realities: thephysical river being polluted, andthe immaterial goddess being pure.The co-existence doesn’t seem topose a problem. For me that is dis-turbing.But questions related to water

are finally not of personal purityand social pollution; they are urgentconcerns about the conservationand equitable distribution of a lifesustaining resource that is fast di-sappearing. The Water Forum wasa modest attempt to raise awarenessof an issue that can no longer be ne-glected.

Desilting work has begun at the Ennore creek as per the directivesof the State Disaster Relief Commissioner, after months of campaign,The New Indian Express reported quoting activists. The areas between the pillars of the bridges across the creek were

also being dredged to enable floodwaters to flow easily. According tomembers of the Coastal Resource Centre, removal of fly ash was ini-tially taken up north of the power plant. Dredging work in the Buc-kingham canal and the removal of a road laid by the Ennore ThermalPower Station (ETPS) were also initiated on October 12, activists said. This is seen as a victory of sorts by the fisherfolk of Ennore and or-

ganisations who have been pushing for restoration of the Ennore creek.Magsaysay awardee T.M. Krishna, former State Women’s Commis-

sion chair V. Vasanthi Devi and retired High Court judge Hariparant-haman and transgender rights activist Sankari had launched a “SaveEnnore Creek” petition online urging the Chief Minister to act beforethe rain. The Ennore fisherfolk and others had suggested that the Government

take six simple things to reduce flood risks in North Chennai region. An official from the Thiruvallur district Revenue Department said

that following the six recommendations made by the fishermen and theactivists, all parties involved, including TANGEDCO, Kamarajar Portand NTECL, were called for a meeting in September when they weredirected to take necessary action.Virgil D’Sami of Arunodhaya, an organisation that coordinated flood

relief works in North Chennai last year, said “People in North Chennaiare very anxious about the imminent rainy season. They have not yetrecovered from last year’s floods.”Last year, Ennore fishing villages deployed 120 boats to rescue more

than 30,000 stranded people from the low-income residential areas inthe north. The fisherfolk pointed out that the floods were caused by thedegradation due to pollution and industrial encroachments of porom-boke wetlands associated with the Kosasthalaiyar and Ennore Creek. The fishermen said far from being wastelands, kazhuveli porom-

boke, kalvai poromboke and uppankazhi poromboke areas in Ennoreheld the key to safeguarding Chenna.The southern arm of the Ennore Creek drains the Kosasthalaiyar,

and the rainwater from Manali, Sadayankuppam, Chinna Sekkadu andBurma Nagar on one side, and the working class residential areas ofTondiarpet, Korukkupet, Satyamoorthy Nagar, Washermanpet and Er-navur on the other. Besides serving as home to more than one millionpeople, North Chennai also houses critical infrastructure such as theCPCL petroleum refinery, the railway link connecting Chennai to thenorth and east, and all of the city’s electricity generating stations. Lastyear’s floods disrupted production at the CPCL refinery for two days.As long as the river, creek and the Buckingham Canal are healthy

and freely flowing, North Chennai, its people and the critical infras-tructure located in the region are safe. But ill-designed roads and brid-ges, sludge from domestic and industrial effluents, pollutants such asflyash from thermal power plants and encroachments on the Ennorewetlands for industrial infrastructure have drastically reduced the flood-carrying capacity of the creek. Eleven bridges that criss-cross the creekalso disrupt the water flow because the spaces between pillars are fil-led with debris.“All these encroachments are like blockages in one’s blood vessel

that can lead to a heart attack.If these blockages in Ennore Creek are notremoved immediately, Chennai can suffer a major heart attack,” saidR.L. Srinivasan, president of the Kaattukuppam Fishermen’s Coope-rative Society.Justice (Retd) Hariparanthaman said “There is more to the city than

the IT corridor and the airport.The encroachments in Ennore Creek areviolations of the law. Removing them is not just required from a flood-safety perspective but also from a legal point of view.”

“Water is not at the margins ofpublic discussion, water is at thecentre of it,” said N. Ram, formereditor and publisher of The Hindu,speaking at the Chennai WaterForum. Calling for public participation,

Ram said “If governments don’t dotheir job, then the public must stepin with their initiatives.” The three-day forum, part of a

larger project called Embrace OurRivers, was organized by GoetheInstitute at the Kalakshetra Foun-dation on October 6, 7 and 8. Fiftyspeakers from Germany, India andSouth Korea participated in theforum to create a “new dialogue”on water, urbanization and ecologyand to address the impact of urba-nization and industrialization onthe city’s water bodies. Ram praised the organizers for

their efforts and voiced confidencethat the forum could help inspirepublic bodies to act. Expressing regret at the state of

Chennai’s micro and macro sys-tems to drain out rain water, he said“We had wonderful drainage sys-

tems, which over time have beenundermined and eaten into. Someof the damage looks irreversible.” Although the challenges were

many, he said there were effectiveways to revive the city’s drainagesystems. With right institutions, ascientific approach and a healthydose of public activism, “it can bedone,” he said. Ram cited success stories like

the revival of the Thames River inLondon, which was declared biolo-gically dead. He also mentioned Si-ruthuli – a movement by citizenactivists that restored the SiruthuliRiver in Coimbatore. Criticising the press for rallying

around sensational issues, Ramsaid the press should take efforts toidentify a potential crisis even be-fore it manifested itself so that therewas enough time for the authoritiesand the public to act. Pointing to the Press’s fixation

with the issues that drove publicexcitement, he said “Journalismhas its inbuilt problem. When thereis something spectacular or exci-ting then we cover it. But when itlooks rather quiet or dull, we tendto ignore it.” There was a need to sensitize

journalists to this shortcoming. Spread over three days, the

forum featured interactive discus-sions, presentations, panel discus-sions, concerts and poetry reading. The organizers emphasized the

importance of a multidisciplinaryapproach in addressing the waterrelated issues facing Chennai. As aresult, the event hosted academi-cians, activists, artists, architects,urban planners and designers. Rajeev Kathpalia, an architect

and urban designer, made a pre-sentation on ‘Topography, UrbanEcologies and Water’. Citing his 455 acres project on

the Nalanda University campus,Kathpalia showed how variouswater bodies and reservoirs couldbe integrated into the landscape andhow water could be used for coha-bitation. Describing the Nalanda Univer-

sity as a net zero campus, he said,“The clay we are taking out, we aremaking into compressed blocks andmaking buildings out of that. Sothere’s an exchange of material butwe do not import anything fromoutside.”Further the campus was pedes-

trian friendly with vehicular access

for the disabled, utility vehicles,battery operated buses. As much as60 per cent of the land was openand could be used as a floodplain tomanage the water during floods.These were some of the features ofthe master plan of the campus, ac-cording to Kathpalia. Talking about the architecture of

IIM Udaipur, he said “We made awhole series of inter linked lakesthrough mapping the watershed.”The overall design of the IIM

Udaipur campus reflects the tradi-tional fortress architecture that is asignificant part of Rajasthan’s his-tory and culture, according to theinstitute’s website. The Academic Block is at the

heart of the campus with lakes ontwo sides. An imposing plaza nextto the water will be a central mee-ting place as well as a backdrop forlarge events.The architecture has been desig-

ned to minimize energy consump-tion. The arid landscape will berehabilitated in a number of stagesover several years at which pointthe campus is designed to be lar-gely self-sufficient in terms ofwater, energy and waste manage-ment.

Six steps toget ready

for the floods

Let’s tell our water stories!

‘Public must step in if govt fails’

HELMUT SCHIPPERT

Helmut Schippert, Director of Goethe Institut, Chennai atthe Chennai Water Forum held between October 6 and 8at the Kalakshetra Foundations

ISSAC JAMES MSONAKSHI AWASTHI

Rising from a wetland in the Black Forest the Neckar river flows through a densely populated and industrialized area in Southwest Germany

N Ram, Chairman, Kasturi and Sons, inaugurating the Chennai Water Forum at the Ka-lakshetra on October 6. Looking on is Helmut Schippert, Director, Goethe Institut.

CHENNAI WATER FORUM6-8 October 2016KALAKSHETRA FOUNDATION, CHENNAI

A special issue on the Chennai Water Forum by the Print Stream students of the Asian College of Journalism

Water forum Page 1 - Copy_Layout 1 31-Oct-16 2:26 PM Page 1