Scientists call for community-driven revival of freshwater ecosystems, warn against quick fixes

NT Reporter

Panaji

Scientists and academics from IIT and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) have cautioned that India’s freshwater ecosystems face mounting threats that require systemic, behavioural, and community-driven responses rather than quick fixes that only worsen degradation.

Speaking during a brainstorming session titled ‘Mission Sarovar Punha Nirman: Reimagining Goa’s Lakes,’ on Thursday Dr Udit Bhatia, Associate Professor at IIT Gandhinagar, said, “This is such a complex problem that we often linearise —saying don’t do this, hence this won’t happen. That is a big danger when dealing with a highly non-linear system.”

Explaining that lakes function like vital organs, he said they cannot be treated as isolated systems but as interconnected parts of society and ecosystems. “They receive pollutants from fertilisers, plastics, and industrial discharge,” said Dr Bhatia.

From IIT Roorkee, Dr Mohit Prakash Mohanty said that the greatest challenge is not technological but behavioural. Sharing experiences from Delhi’s polluted lakes, he said, “When we went to the site, people asked if a new park or mall was coming up.” He described this disconnect as a fundamental obstacle to conservation. His SCOPE initiative develops simple educational material for schools to instill awareness from the primary level and shift public attitudes toward treating lakes as lifelines for future generations, said Dr Mohanty.

Climate scientist Dr Raghu Murtugudde of NASA-GSFC and IIT Bombay warned that societies and economies exist within the environment, not apart from it. He said earth systems are already “paralysed in many ways” and pointed to changing rainfall patterns in Goa that create both floods and droughts depending on distribution. “Goa should get around 330 centimetres of rain, but whether it comes over 100 days or 30 makes a huge difference,” he said. He advocated predictive modeling, participatory monitoring, and use of mobile technology to crowdsource water quality data from fishermen, tourists, and local communities. “We must decide whether we are the cancer of the environment or symbiotic bacteria that help the system thrive,” he said.

Dr Sukdeb Pal, senior principal scientist at CSIR-NEERI, stressed, “There is no readymade solution for lake restoration.” He said strategies must be tailored to each water body’s intended use—drinking, aquaculture, or recreation. Citing studies of Rajasthan’s Sambar Lake, a Ramsar site, he explained how groundwater exploitation and human activities disrupted natural cycles.

He urged innovative public participation, suggesting simple visibility tests for citizens to track water quality. “When you think about a lake, you must think holistically—not just about the lake itself, but beyond,” said Dr Pal.