By Toki Blah
The anchor column of this newspaper for March 8, 2021 ran with, “DC lends her weight to humongous task of cleaning Umkaliar”. The above apparently refers to the Operation Clean Up Drive initiated by the Shillong Times and which invites volunteers to come together as a citizen group to clean the Wahumkhrah river at Umkaliar with the whole intention of creating public awareness to the state of the two streams flowing through Shillong city. The condition of the Wah Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi especially in the dry season is pathetic to say the least. For some of us who have seen the pristine state of the two rivers in the past, their condition now is heartrending. Worse, the two streams with all the filth they carry finally empty themselves into the Umiam. In its turn , the Umiam from Rawraw downwards till Jingkieng Kalong, a stretch of river approximately 5 km in length, has turned into a stinking sewer covered with the slimy scales of discarded plastic bottles and bags. The only redeeming feature is that this stretch is not visible to the general public , but all the same it poses a direct threat to the life span of Umiam lake and its ability to continue generating power. Something has to be done.
Three questions need to be answered if one is serious about cleaning up the Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi. First, we have to ask who dirties the rivers and how? The answer is very simple. That rivers don’t dirty themselves is obvious. The state of the rivers is however determined by their catchment areas and Shillong and Greater Shillong form the catchment area for both the Umshyrpi and the Umkhrah. This catchment area in turn is crisscrossed by streams, rivulets, gullies and drains that empty themselves into the two rivers. Plastic bags, plastic bottles, thermacol packages, paper, clothes even mattresses and all sorts of rubbish is dumped into drains that empty into the Umkhrah and the Umshyrpi. Direct dumping is not required. Due to the hilly and sloping nature of the terrain anything dumped anywhere will eventually end in the nearest stream. Our septic tanks, either directly or indirectly, all discharge into drains that feed into the rivers. So as we piously ask ourselves who has dirtied our rivers, the damning answer is that it is we ourselves are to blame. Once we accept the veracity of the above, the answer to the question below becomes self explanatory.
The second question we ask ourselves is – Who should then clean our dirty rivers and how? The answer again to this one is obvious. We can’t have one set of sloppy citizens dumping their waste into the river and another group of concerned citizens cleaning up the mess made by the former. This won’t work and it is not sustainable. It is also obvious from the state of the two rivers that the number of sloppy uncivic minded citizens far outnumber those with any civic sense. It is clearly noticeable that this dumping of both solid and liquid waste into our river systems is done knowingly, deliberately and with the full knowledge that it is wrong. To stop it will need more than just public awareness programmes. What is really needed is a local authority, to supervise a vigorous civic campaign within its own area of jurisdiction. The role of such an authority, with the backing of the district administration, is to enforce civic sensibility.
The third and final question we need to ask ourselves is – What is the most sustainable way to clean the rivers? The best way and actually the only sustainable way is to manage waste disposal at its source- i.e. the household. As mentioned above waste management should be enforced at the household level. Waste management at the household level should in turn be supported by (a) constant and unflagging enforcement (b) through an economically driven approach. If we are to manage both solid and liquid waste then three main players need to be identified. First the Government that has to identify and implement a sewage system for all the liquid waste that flows from the households. The septic tanks in use will have to be linked to such a sewage system. Second will be MUDA that shall identify and link all collected solid waste to viable markets for the same. This will be markets for both organic and inorganic waste. Third will be the District Administration working closely with the local Dorbars to strictly enforce the required civic sensibility at the household and Dorbar level.
Readers will ask – What then is the role of the Municipality in all this? Well to be honest and frank, as long as Municipality remains superseded, its role as an institution of the people is temporarily hogtied. We will not speak of it. The cutting edge institutions for what we have in mind, for both Municipal and non- Municipal areas, will be the Dorbars working in close tandem with the District Administration. Solid waste will be segregated into organic and inorganic waste at the household level. Segregation will be rigorously enforced by the Dorbars through locally employed waste managers (unemployed local youth) who will be paid based on the number of households they supervise. The Dorbars will charge a service fee from each household and this fee will help meet the respective maintenance expenditure for each Dorbar. Seed money to help the Dorbars meet initial expenses can be provided by the District Administration who will budget the Govt for the same.
The segregated organic and inorganic waste will then be collected by MUDA garbage trucks. MUDA will budget the Govt for the same. The collected waste will be then transported to pre-designated markets. For example, plastic waste can be transported to cement plants that will use such waste as fuel. Other sorts of inorganic waste already have existing markets and employment can be generated for those interested in the marketing of such waste. An all women SHG is already dealing with organic waste at Marten and they will welcome any additional raw material to their enterprise. This is an economically based waste disposal system. It’s a win-win situation for all concerned. Employment will be generated; the city and our rivers will be kept clean; the problem of Marten solved; and most important civic awareness and consciousness will have been created in the minds of the general public.
As far as liquid waste is concerned, we need to come up with a system wherein the habit of emptying our septic tanks into the nearest drain will come to a stop. Please don’t ever think you are immune from this habit. Everyone in Shillong indulges in it knowing or unknowingly. Ask yourself – How do you clean your overflowing septic tank and where does the waste go? The answer is for a sewage system or a number of mini sewage systems for the city. The technology for this is available even if funds are lacking. However ADB, World Bank and other international funding agencies can be tapped for necessary funds. In conclusion it needs to be said that Government can no longer turn a blind eye to our dying urban rivers. It shall have to take a call and support a cleaning up strategy that is sustainable and people oriented. We have the institutions and the people to do it. Please let’s not waste any more time on the issue.
The author is President of ICARE