Dirty, Sacred Rivers This page intentionally left blank Dirty, Sacred Rivers CONFRONTING SOUTH ASIA’S WATER CRISIS CHERYL COLOPY 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © Cheryl Colopy 2012 Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Colopy, Cheryl Gene. Dirty, sacred rivers : confronting South Asia’s water crisis / Cheryl Colopy. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-984501-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Ganges River (India and Bangladesh)—Environmental conditions. 2. Water—Pollution—Ganges River (India and Bangladesh) 3. Water-supply—Ganges River (India and Bangladesh) 4. Stream ecology— Ganges River (India and Bangladesh) I. Title. GB1340.G36C65 2012 333.91(cid:99)620954—dc23 2012005796 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Dedicated to Uma Devi Hamal, 1958–2011 A strong Nepali woman from Mugu and Sue Anne Gershenson, 1946–2011 Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal and friend Uma Devi Hamal places tika on the author during the festival of Dasain, 2007 This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Maps i x Acknowledgments xi Notes to the Reader xiii Introduction 3 1. Dirty, Sacred Rivers 9 2. The Real Poop: How Rivers Become Sewers 27 3. Delhi’s Yamuna 51 4. Melting Ice Rivers 79 5. The Shrinking Third Pole 109 6. In the Valley of Dhunge Dhara 139 7. Melamchi River Blues 157 8. More River Blues 181 9. Belji of Dhulikhel 195 10. The Sorrows of Bihar 213 11. The Koshi’s Revenge 227 12. The Engineers 251 13. The Garland 263 14. Susu 289 15. Beyond Barrages and Boundaries 305 viii Contents 16. Poisoned Blessings 323 17. Where the Rivers End 343 Notes 365 Glossary 3 85 Select Bibliography and Further Reading 391 Index 3 93 List of Maps Map 1 S outh Asia—Major Rivers xiv Map 2 S ource of the Ganga 1 0 Map 3 N epal Himalaya—Rolwaling and Khumbu Valleys 8 0 Map 4 Th e Kathmandu Valley 140 Map 5 B ihar and the Koshi River Basin 2 14 Map 6 Bundelkhand—Ken and Betwa Rivers 2 64 Map 7 Bangladesh and Lower Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin 306