A pristine dew drops from the mouth of a tiger statue set in a creek believed to be the source of the Bagmati River high in the Himalayas. This statue 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 are the livelihoods of many Nepalese.
However, when Bagmati reaches the valley of the capital Kathmandu, its color changes from clear to brown, then to black, clogged with debris, and its contents drinkable. not suitable for cleaning. 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 most polluted river in the country, a city of about 3 million people. and how it relates to the Bagmati River has changed dramatically. 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 come to pray to the sun god Surya during the festival of Chhath. During Teej, married women pray for her husband's health and prosperity, and single women visit to find a good husband.
Familieshave long carried the bodies of their deceased loved ones to these shores, washing the dead's feet with slabs of stone and their faces sprinkled with river water. 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 still cremated here, but cleaned 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, since 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 traditionally collect river water and sprinkle 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 was born and raised next door to Bagmati, recalled that she used the water for cooking, bathing, washing and even drinking. Today it feels like a distant dream shattered by decades of human waste and garbage dumping.
"I have serious doubts whether I will be clean in my lifetime," said Rama. "Not without effort. There have been some clean-up campaigns, but more people are polluting it. The problem is people."
Indeed, private volunteers and the government both 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, an 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 awareness among residents about not only cleaning duties, but also about avoiding pollution.
According to Kharel, over the years the campaign has managed to collect about 80% of the litter along the river banks, recovering all types of litter from decomposing animals and producing shocking results. Amazingly, we even recovered the corpse of a dead baby that was dumped there. However, it is clear that garbage collection efforts have not reached perfection, as garbage collection services are frequently interrupted, fostering too many dumps to keep up.
Thousands of people also illegally build huts, shacks, 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. 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.
"In the next ten years, I hope the rivers will run clean, 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 very easily," said the river basin, which has studied the river closely. 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 has been.
"We've already taken a lot of damage," said Upadhya.
Mr. Pandit Shiva Harrisbedi, a Hindu priest who has been performing rituals for devotees for his 30 years on the stone steps between the Bagmati and Pashupatinath temples, said that he saw various I have a similarly bleak view of clean-up efforts. 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 perform some miracle, Bagmati will never regain its glory." It seems," said Subedi.
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Religious coverage in the Associated Press, 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.