In India, water pollution is a major environmental concern as many of the water bodies, including rivers, are polluted. One of the major sources of river water pollution in India is untreated sewage. Other sources of pollution include agricultural run-off and unregulated small scale industries discharging their effluents into rivers. There are many major river basins in India with natural waters that are being used for human and developmental activities. These activities contribute significantly to the pollution loads of these river basins.River Hindon is a major source of water to the highly populated area of western Uttar Pradesh.

This month, our cover story titled, 'Troubled Waters: A Multi-Stakeholder Vision to Rejuvenate the Hindon' highlights that there are over 100 drains that flow into Hindon River discharging partially treated effluents from sugar, paper, textile, and tannery industries as well as large inflows of untreated sewage from towns resulting in heavily polluted surface waters. Over-extraction by farmers leads to crippling levels of groundwater in the region around the river, leading to formation of so-called 'black zones' with unsustainably declining aquifer water levels. All these factors, in combination with chemical run-off from agriculture, open defecation, and illegal practices of dumping solid waste, result in choking the drains and tributaries, makes the water quality of both surface and groundwater in large parts of the Hindon river basin unsuitable for various human activities. Our cover story further discusses that slowly but gradually people and governments are adopting various socio-ecological approaches focussing on river conservation and rejuvenation as they are beginning to realize the need to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.  A 'Hindon Yatra' exhibition and symposium series was initiated by the 2030 Water Resources Group (2030 WRG). The aim was to endorse a common vision and demonstrate good practices to inspire and motivate the stakeholders from all sectors to prepare a basin-wide action plan with positive action towards collectively achieving a healthy river basin. A change in mindset was initiated through the 'Hindon Yatra' to reorient people towards working as an organized group recognizing that every water polluter is also a water user who can contribute towards solving the water crisis.

The special report this month highlights that even though 90 per cent of the passenger and freight transportation is dependent on roads in Uttarakhand but the road infrastructure is extremely vulnerable in the hilly state. To compound the problem, every year during monsoon, the roads are damaged or remain blocked for several days. This creates adverse situations for the population and also severely impacts the tourism industry. It is important that the road construction and maintenance practices in the state need to be improved. It is high time that the government takes concrete measures to improve the quality and maintenance of roads in the state, and initiate developmental modifications.

Ajay Mathur, Director-General, TERI