Project Detail

Addressing Environmental & Pollution Concerns Across International Waters Through Strategic Partnerships

The WWF-India was established in 1969 as a Charitable Public Trust to work for wildlife conservation. In recent years, WWF has evolved into a conservation organization working for a wide range of environmental issues. The goal of this project is to reduce pollution load of the Hudiara Drain through active stakeholder participation and better management practices. The Hudiara Drain is a tributary of the river Ravi, which originates at Batala in Gurdaspur District of Punjab and later enters Pakistan. With rise in industrial activities on both sides of the international border and in the absence of the effective environmental regulations, the storm water drain, over a period of time has turned into a highly polluted, industrial effluent carrying drain and is contributing to ground water contamination. WWF-India proposed this project on the Indian side along with the counterparts in Pakistan. Sensitization of the industrial users regarding the perils of untreated waste and improvement in regulation and policy environment are important components of the project.

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Project Snapshot

Grantee:

World Wide Fund For Nature

Country:

India

Area Of Work:

International Waters

Operational Phase:

Phase 3

Grant Amount:

US$ 33,954.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 6,841.86

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 4,261.58

Project Number:

SGP/GEF/IND/OP3/1/05/DELHI04

Start Date:

10/2005

End Date:

9/2007

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

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Project Characteristics and Results

Project sustainability

Provision of technical assistance to industry in the form of cost effective indigenous enironmental solutions as pilot initiatives form a part of the project. The industries will be facilitated to continue the better management practices even after the project duration. Under the community outreach program, awareness and capacity of the community to take collective action will be enhanced. This capacity development will lead to action by communities on better resource management.

Policy Impact

Sensitization of the industrial users regarding the perils of untreated waste and improvement in regulation and policy environment are important components of the project.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

Sensitization of the stakeholders, especially the community will make them better equipped in as owners and users of resource in taking better decisions and actions to improve water quality. Reports and papers will be published throughout the project duration on the important findings. The results and outcomes of the project will be shared through press releases, publication of stories in leading national and local print media for increasing public awareness.

Capacity - Building Component

Technical assistance will be provided to the industry to help them adopt cost effective, indigenous environmental solutions and that will build capacity of the professionals working in the industry regarding better environment management practices. A community outreach program for the villages around the drain will be developed with a village health and education plan. A community outreach program for the villages around the drain will be developed to community with a village health and education plan.

Notable Community Participation

The NGO will set up a task force with multi-stakeholders for creating sensitivity amongst industrial users on pollution. The NGO shall also be encouraged to form a community group-federation around the rain to address various issues. Major activities under the project would be sensitization of local communities, industries and others regarding the problems associated with the Hudiara drain.

Replication of project activities

The project aims to demonstrate effective collaborations betwenn two countries on one hand and and multiple stakeholders within the country on the other for addressing environmental issues of concern. The positive outcomes of the project can also be replicated to other river systems too, since most rivers in the country face similar problems if industrial efluent discharge.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

With the rise of industrial activity around the Hudiara drain and in teh absence of environmental regulation, the drain has turned into an industrial drain carrying untreated effluents and increasing the The communities living in the vicinity has been severely affected by this this in terms of health and agriculture. Sensitization of the community will make them better equipped in as owners and users of resource in taking better decisions and actions to improve water quality.

Project Results

The Hudiara Drain is an ideal case of transboundary water body and falls under the Indus Water Treaty in which it is clearly stated that both countries will ensure that no pollution affects the river ecosystem from their sides. The chemical analysis has been done on the water samples collected in January, February, March and April and has been done for physio-chemical parameters. The samples for heavy metal analysis have been stored for further analysis. The temperature of the samples for each site does not vary much and are dependent on atmospheric temperature. There is high incidence of municipal waste and industrial waste in the water resulting in high biological oxygen demand. The results were shared with the local community and the industry association and a stakeholder?s meet was held in which commitment was received from industry, government and the civil society. Two industries have been identified to implement the Best Management Practices and two villages have been identified for community based activities.

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