Article Author:
Associated Press
Binaj Gurubacharya
KATHMANDU, NEPAL (AP) — Natural drops fall from the mouth of a tiger statue set in a creek high in the Himalayas. Forming the headwaters of the Bagmati River, it has long been revered for its power to purify the soul. From there, it descends, passes through lush forests, and joins other waterways to irrigate the rice paddies, vegetables, and other crops that make up the livelihoods of many Nepalese.
However, when Bagmati reached the valley of the capital city of Kathmandu, its color changed from clear to brown, then to black, and the debris clogged its contents, making it undrinkable and difficult to clean. Not suitable. During the dry season, an overwhelming stench fills the shore.
Nepal's holiest river has become so polluted and degraded by garbage and sewage dumped directly into its waterways that today it is also the country's most polluted river, and the city's is dramatically changing the face of Three million people interact with Bagmati on a daily, cultural and spiritual level.
In the capital, Bagmati sludge oozes past several sacred sites, including the Pashupatinath Temple, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. , surrounded by hundreds of tiny things.
Hindus gather on the riverbanks of Kathmandu to worship at shrines and celebrate festivals. Women bathe in the river during Rishi Panchami to wash away their sins. Rishi Panchami is a day to worship Her Seven Sages who are revered as enlightened beings and guide humanity through the ages. Visitors also stop by during the festival of Chhath to offer prayers to the sun god Surya. During Teej, married women pray for her husband's health and prosperity, and single women visit to find a good husband.
Families have long carried the bodies of their deceased loved ones to these embankments, washing the deceased's feet with stone slabs and splashing river water over their faces. Belief believes that it washes away a person's sins and sends the soul to heaven. Their physical remains are then cremated on a pile of trees along the river, and their ashes are scattered in the water.
People still bring their deceased loved ones to Bagmati, but many no longer dare to come into contact with its contents. Bodies are cremated here but washed with purified water purchased from a nearby store.
"It's not there anymore. The water is so dirty and smelly. People are forced to bring bottled water and perform rituals," she said after marrying her husband at age 15. Mithu Rama, 59, who works with her husband at the Tek Ghat crematorium, said on a recent day she was piling up. Firewood for cremation.
Grieving families who rely on bottled water are usually reluctant to discuss it openly because they did not follow sacred funeral traditions.
People also traditionally collected river water and sprinkled it on their homes to purify their homes. The river is also important to Buddhists, many of whom cremate their bodies on the banks of the Bagmati River.
Rama, who grew up next to Bagmati, remembered using its water for cooking, bathing, washing and even drinking. Today, it feels like a distant dream shattered by decades of human waste and garbage dumping, and she doesn't expect to see her again anytime soon.
"I have serious doubts whether I will be clean in my lifetime," said Rama. "Not without effort. There have been some cleaning campaigns, but more people are polluting it. The problem is people."
Actually , both private volunteers and the government have made efforts to clean up the river. Among these initiatives, for the past seven years, hundreds of volunteers have gathered in Kathmandu every Saturday to pick up trash and remove it from Bagmati.
Almost every weekend, Mara Karel, executive member of the Government High-Level Commission for Integrated Development of the Bagmati Civilization, established to help clean up the river, is there. She volunteers her time to raise public awareness about avoiding pollution as well as cleaning obligations.
According to Kharel, over the years the campaign has managed to collect about 80% of the trash along the riverbanks, recovering all types of trash from rotting animals and producing shocking results. Amazingly, they even recovered the corpse of a dead baby that had been dumped there. However, garbage collection efforts are far from complete, as garbage collection services are frequently interrupted, fostering an overwhelming amount of dumping.
Additionally, thousands of people illegally build huts, huts, and brick houses along the river and refuse to leave.
Regarding sewage, according to Kharel, the Commission is working on several projects, including the construction of canals and pipes built parallel to rivers, to connect to sewers and dispose of them. It prevents objects from reaching Bagmati. It is also looking to build a treatment plant and is working on an upstream dam that will collect and store rainwater during the monsoon season and release it during the dry season to move the waste downstream in Kathmandu.
Work on the pipe and canal system began around 2013, but no completion date has been announced. Two dams are under construction and are said to be nearing completion, but he has one dam still under construction. But campaigners have high hopes for the near future.
"I hope that in the next ten years, the rivers will be clear, the banks will be clean, and the trees will be lined," Carell said. "We are working hard towards this goal."
That optimism is not shared by everyone. For example, some environmentalists aren't sure that dams will help much.
"There are too many expectations placed on these dams. The Bagmati River is a natural river, not a canal that can be cleaned so easily," said a close study of the river basin. Madhukar Upadhya, an expert in the river, said there was no longer any sand left in the river bed.
Instead, today it is lined with clay, mixed with chemicals dumped by industrial activities such as handwoven carpet makers, which were popular in the 1990s but are now banned from the capital. It is
"We've already taken a lot of damage," said Upadhya.
For his thirty years on the stone steps between Bagmati and Pashupatinath temples, Hindu priest Pandit Shiva Harisvedi, who has performed rituals for devotees, said that he has a similarly hazy view of the various cleanup activities carried out by I've seen it. He believes that divine intervention is required.
"There have been too many guarantees from political leaders and people at the top, none of which have been fulfilled. …Unless the gods work some miracle, Bagmati will regain its glory." It doesn't seem possible," Subedi said. “To clean the water naturally by the grace of God requires a great flood to wash away the dirt.”
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AP religious coverage, AP and The Conversation It is supported through collaboration with the US and funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.