Improving our water quality

Water is precious. And its quality is as important for our survival as its quantity.

Many recent Lha articles have been about the quantity of water. Either about water exploitation or misuse of water resources, e.g. Tibet and  the Monsoon, feb 2014 and Tibet bottled water, sept 2017. In the last two years, Contact Magazine has discussed water quality (regulations, January 2016) and most importantly, what Lha is doing about local water quality by supplying filtration plants to help health and hygiene (March, 2016 and June 2017).

Here, we connect these big picture stories to what Lha is doing in the local community. Thereby, we offer practical advice. You can either improve water quality yourself or advocate for others, government and business to improve it.

Lets start by looking at water quantity and then move to quality. To understand water quantity broadly, we can look at the water cycle (see fig. 1).

Too much water taken from a source may deplete that resource and upset the cycle. Three examples:

1. Tibet and the monsoon affecting the water cycle
2. Dams on Tibetan rivers flowing to India will deplete water supply to India.
3. Changing monsoon patterns in Himachal Pradesh Himalayas may offer less spring and groundwater or cause flooding

Figure 1: The water cycle

With good water and waste treatment we can have a ‘healthy stream’ (see fig. 2 below). What are the streams like in the Dharamsala region, e.g. the Bhagsu stream? Think about:

• where streams are healthy and become ‘unhealthy’, or vice versa; and,
• what are the factors that degrade or improve the stream (see diagram)?

Figure 2: Factors that affect healthy and unhealthy streams

In many countries, water quality, after many years of deterioration, thanks to rehabilitation is improving. Since 1999, International River Foundation has awarded improvement prizes to river systems worldwide. The only Indian finalist was the Arvari in 2003 and 2004. None have been from Tibet, though winners and finalists have been from China with the Sha river winning in 2006 and Yellow river finalist between 2007 and 2010.

An Indian pilgrim to Lake Manasoravar near Mt Kailash in Tibet wryly commented to the author recently (pers comm. August 2017), “if this holy lake was in India, it would now be polluted”. Take a look at Dal holy lake (Fig. 3).

Figure 3: unhealthy water, Dal holy lake (left side) and healthy water, lake Manasoravar (right side)

To understand water quality in more detail, we can look at a typical ‘urban water cycle’ (Fig. 4) and consider water treatment and waste water treatment.

Figure 4: Urban water cycle

Drinking water comes from a suitable ‘water supply’ and is usually treated to ensure it is safe ‘clean water’ (see fig. 4). A local water treatment plant is located in McLeod Ganj above Dal lake. Two problems can lead to unsafe drinking water. First one, if people do not have access to treated water and depend on waste water that is not treated effectively. Second, if their water supply is polluted, say by poor quality supply in the monsoon. Lha has helped in both cases.

In June, Lha installed its 25^th water filtration plant as part of the Lha Clean Water project for Dharamsala (refer CM June 2017). Project data shows:

• nearly 14,000 people are receiving adequate drinking water;
• a variety of institutions, e.g. schools, have benefited;
• students reported improved health and teachers improved school attendance (survey conducted in 2016)

How well these filtration plants are maintained and integrated into the regional drinking water system is uncertain.

Equally important is the treatment of ‘waste water’ (refer again to fig. 4). Proper treatment may lead to a ‘healthy stream’ (in fig. 2) and discharged ‘treated water’ may become someone’s drinking water downstream – repeating the cycle in figure 4. Potential waste water treatment improvement opportunities are:

• Treat black toilet water either in a waste water treatment (sewerage) plant or by septic systems. Generally, sewerage treatment is managed by experts and more reliable than private home septic systems. Sewerage treatment is preferred in developed countries. Dharamsala region has a sewage plant at Jawahar, Gulerian, and some remote houses and communities that are not connected may have septic systems. Lhasa in Tibet is reported as having waste water treatment since 2011.

• Treat grey water from the kitchen, bathroom, house cleaning and clothes washing. In many developed countries, grey water is treated with black water in sewerage plants. In McLeod Ganj, and many areas in India, grey water is discharged to the environment, polluting nearby streams (see McLeod Ganj drains in dry weather). One local sign of change is a research position to investigate grey water recovery and reuse. It was posted by SWASH Village on 10 October 2017 to be based in Naddi, Dal lake.

• Treat stormwater (see middle section of fig. 4). Overland flows from rain and snow pick up sediment, rubbish, animal faeces and can cause flooding. Leaking pipes and roof water contribute to these flows. In many developed countries, sediment is managed, rubbish is placed in bins, animal owners collect faeces and roof water is harvested. Brisbane City Council’s Water Stormwater Quality Management is one Australian city’s example. No equivalent is known for Himachal Pradesh, or Tibet. Lha conducts a monthly clean-up of waste around McLeod Ganj which helps improve storm water in a limited way.

Water quality in Himachal Pradesh (and perhaps Tibet?) is improving but not to the extent in developed countries. The Indian government and Lha are improving drinking water quality and the Indian government is improving (black water) sewerage treatment. By contrast, grey and storm waters are managed poorly in the Dharamsala region.

Poor quality waste waters impact people, animals and streams / rivers downstream. To help those in Dharamsala and on the Indian plain, those living in McLeod Ganj follow, and encourage others to follow: Lha’s Keep Your City Clean and Green brochure: ‘Don’t throw garbage on the ground’, ‘Repair water leaks’. Also, they should advocate for the grey and storm water improvements above. The result would be better water quality leading to healthy streams and healthy people!

Simon Cavendish, Marvin Westerveld and Amelia Rozelle