Many a stories have been woven around rippling and cascading brooks that ran by homes, and deep and dark pools that adorned every green grove, about unwritten codes and voyeurism, shame and love, titillation and fear. When the mundane activity of collecting drinking water and bathing in a common space changed to personal precincts, the stories died and with it the quality of the water. Once we lost the connect with our water bodies, we lost our desire to take care of them. Indices of development today flag the need to have a piped connection to ensure equitable access amongst other things. But, its downside is a severance that has resulted in cascading levels of pollution in ground and surface water. Without grassroot level vigilance, water bodies began to bear the muck of a fast growing and ill-advised populace.

Thus began the saga of cleaning, and cleaning again and then again, until hundreds of crores of Indian rupees have literally run down the proverbial drain, in order to redeem something that is beyond redemption. If the health of a county’s river and water bodies could determine its level of development, India would perhaps occupy the lowest rungs amongst developing nations. Let us then leave our rivers alone, and allow them, all dead, run to seas with its dirt and filth. We can then, leave the wrecked lands behind, pack bed and baggage and be a colourful addition to a diaspora that we so want to be part of. 

The alternative would be to levy water charges. Ground, river, tank or any other surface water should no longer be free. The government on the other hand should distribute recycled water free, in a safe and equitable manner. Funds to clean rivers and water bodies should only be used for this single purpose and charges levied for freshwater usage should be worked into running recycled services for free. Then our rivers and water bodies could perhaps breathe again—and development jumpstart.