Sankat Mochan Foundation

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Sankat Mochan Foundation
Sankat Mochan Foundation

Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF) is a charitable organization devoted to cleaning and protecting the sacred Ganges river in India.

Contents

[edit] History

Sankat Mochan Foundation was founded in 1982 as a non-profit, non-political organization under the "Societies Act" of the Government of India by Veer Bhadra Mishra[1]. The vision of Sankat Mochan Foundation is to[2]

  1. Restore the Ganges by alleviating its fast deteriorating environmental conditions
  2. Promote education and health care programs for the less privileged
  3. Maintain and encourage the age-old cultural traditions of Varanasi, in tune with its current environmental needs

SMF runs the Swatcha Ganga (Clean Ganges) program, and so SMF is sometimes referred to as "Swatcha Ganga".

[edit] Ganga Action Plan: Failures

Main article: Ganga Action Plan

The Ganga Action Plan launched in 1986 by the Government of India has not achieved any success despite expenditure of over five billion rupees. The government claims that the schemes under the Ganga Action Plan have been successful, but actual measurements and scientific data tell a different story. The failure of the GAP is evident but corrective action is lacking.

The ineffectiveness of the current Ganga Action Plan could be found based on the results observed in the following table:[3]

Location / Parameters Biochemical Oxygen Demand (mg/l) Fecal Coliform Count / 100ml
At beginning of the Varanasi City ... Near Assi/Tulsi ghat 3-8 mg/l 20,000 - 100,000 per 100ml
Downstream of the Varanasi City ... Varuna confluence with Ganga 20-50 mg/l 1,000,000-2,000,000 per 100ml
Permissible limits for bathing Less than 3mg/l Less than 500 per 100ml

Note: The higher the Biochemical Oxygen Demand, the higher the pollution (conversely there is more dissolved oxygen needed to make the water safe).

[edit] SMF AIWPS Solution

Main article: SMF AIWPS Solution

AIWPS has been developed by Professor William J. Oswald and his co-workers at the University of California, Berkeley over the past four decades. Advanced Integrated Wastewater Pond Systems (AIWPS) are potentially feasible for application in the developing world.

Each AIWPS facility designs and incorporates a series of low-cost ponds or earthwork reactors. A typical AIWPS facility consists of a minimum of four ponds in series. These are Advanced Facultative Ponds (AFP), Secondary Facultative Ponds or Algal High Rate Ponds (HRP), Algae Settling Ponds (ASP), Maturation Ponds. These systems would store sewage for 45 days, using bacteria and algae to eliminate waste and purify the water.

This is a low cost, highly efficient and effective mode of treating sewage, with nearly no power requirement, and it is well suited for a tropical location like the Gangetic Plains. Sankat Mochan Foundation, working alongside Oswald Green LLC, had proposed this system for treating the sewage water that is being let in to Ganga near Varanasi. Though this solution was unanimously accepted by Varanasi Nagar Nigam (Varanasi Local Government Body, Municipal Corporation), based on the facts that this solution is more economical, superior in technology and requires very little maintenance, it has been stalled by the apathy and indifference shown by the central and state government bureaucracy.

[edit] SMF Milestones

Year Milestones
1982 SMF founded by a group of citizens and engineers of Varanasi, led by Prof. Veer Bhadra Mishra
1983 SMF launches the Swatcha Ganga (Clean Ganges) Campaign, a public education program for raising the awareness about the pollution of Ganga
1986 Ganga Action Plan (GAP) launched by the Government. Varanasi GAP Phase I includes construction of three sewage treatment plants, pumping stations, and electric crematorium at Varanasi. But GAP was a complete failure due to high levels of corruption and poor design strategy
1992 SMF and Friends of the Ganges (FOG) USA organize an International Conference on "Pollution Control in River Cities of India: A case study of Ganga at Varanasi" at Tulsi Ghat. Experts from the USA and Sweden also participate.
1993 The Swatcha Ganga Research Laboratory (SGRL) is established with the support of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNF), and laboratory data establishes the inefficiency of GAP Phase I schemes. This state-of-the-art laboratory produces a reliable database.
1996 SMF proposes interceptor sewers along Ganga and Varuna rivers and AIWPS type of sewage treatment scheme for Varanasi.
1997 The "Feasibility Study of Interceptor Sewers and AIWPS Technology for Prevention of Pollution of Ganga at Vatranasi" is prepared jointly by SMF and Oswald-Green LLC, and is recommended and submitted by the Varanasi Municipal Corporation (VNN) to the Government for GAP Phase-II.
1998 "Swatcha Ganga Environmental Education Center", a joint initiative of SMF and Oz-GREEN/FOG of Australia is established at Tulsighat.
1999 Continuing efforts are made to educate local and national Government as to the advantages of appropriate and sustainable sewage treatment.
2000 Extension of the environmental education programme and initiation of clean drinking water projects in villages in collaboration with Oz-GREEN, Australia.

US President Bill Clinton praises the Swatcha Ganga Campaign in his speech at Agra in India
2001 Three year project "Addressing Ganga's Pollution at Varanasi with change in social habits and use through awareness, mobilization and information dissemination" launched with support from SIDA, Sweden
2002 Active Collaboration established between cleanup campaigners of the "River Thames" in London and the Civil Society Partnership Program (CSPP) of Ganga in India, is launched by SMF with support from the Asia Foundation's "Asia Environmental Program", San Francisco, United States.

"Adopt a Ghat" program launched. Schools and other local institutions come forth to adopt the world famous historical Ghats at the Ganga's bank to maintain their cleanliness, with support from SIDA
2003 SMF and Oz-GREEN, Australia jointly organize the International Students Congress. Participants from Australia, Bangladesh and many schools from Indian cities participated and decided their action plan for pollution abatement
2004 "Clean Ganga - Clean Ghat" a collaborative demonstration project implemented with support of British High Commission, New Delhi, under the SIDA project "Clean Ganga Conclave" at Tulsighat, and under the CSPP Clean Ganga Day organized at New Delhi
2005

SMF & Oz-GREEN organize 3rd International Students Congress MoU signed between Times Foundation, K.K. Jajodia Foundation and Art of Living Foundation for the Holy Ganga Initiative Students from Australia and Sweden participate in World Environment Day celebration Clean Ganga Day organized in New Delhi MoU signed with Oxfam Svaraj for cleaning the River Ganga water front and ghats of Varanasi a

[edit] Associated Organizations

[edit] See also