Petition Statement: We demand the government of Telangana to Save musi river that is struggling to survive from Lack of water flow along with Sewage dump and industrial waste by performing cleaning drives, setting up sewage waste treatment as well reducing the construction of more dams including the tightening of land encroachment to restore its beauty.

Musi river is one of the most contaminated rivers in India. Musi River is a tributary of Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau. It was known as Muchukunda River in earlier days. Hyderabad stands on the bank of this river which divides the city between the old and the new. This river has a monumental impact on health and economic conditions. Numerous developments throughout Hyderabad has created significance to our daily necessities and it has also restricted the flow and diversion of the river. 

Nature of the problem
 
The growing urbanisation and industrialisation are main  causes of Hyderabad city  and  Musi river’s pollution due  to  exponential population  explode.  The riverbed and the bounds of lakes are encroached, and a few  are  disappearing  and  the  population  and  their unorganized offerings together with electroplating, leather  tanning,  engineering,  oil  extraction  and commercial processing are heavily polluting River Musi. The river has become a receiver for the  untreated sewage  and contaminated industrial water  due  to  unsystematic  urbanization  and  lack  of planning. The musi river has turned in to a sewage line. Almost 80% of Hyderabad's untreated sewage gets dumped into the city's rivers. According to recent reports, 700-800 million litres per day of sewage is dumped in the Musi River The main reason is because of the municipalities that is around hyderabad, with a population of almost 0.2 million and spreading over 370 square kilometres, Hyderabad doesn’t have a proper sewerage network. All the waste is discharged into drains and water bodies which eventually flow into River Musi. There  is hardly  any water  flowing  into the  Musi. The river  water  flows  rapidly  downstream  during  rainy seasons. The increase use of hard engineering tools for example dams has led to lack of water flow because dams block river flow and slows down rivers. Musi river ends at Krishna river or water shed which is the 3rd largest river in India and ends up transporting the contaminated water to river Krishna.  Everyday million of plastic waste is deposited into the river beds and banks of river. Water can  be seen  only at  the reservoir. The  water  that  is found in  the riverbed  in the  form of  a small stream  is the sewage from Hyderabad city. The flood plain of musi river is contaminated with plastic waste all over while the government is working on it but there are tones of trash thrown in the river. The major reasons of the deterioration of water in the river are building of thousands of check dams within the catchment area, indiscriminate plotting of the catchment area by the real estate players, changing land use and changing agricultural practices like converting fallow lands to agriculture, and shift from rain fed crops to irrigated crops etc. One of the main issues global warming and the increase of water evaporation.
 
Why it needs to be fixed
80% of Hyderabad's untreated sewage gets dumped into the city's rivers so much so that the city's drinking water (Manjeera) now demonstrates an alarmingly high presence of excreta which poses health risk and it questions the quality of drinking water. Many Villages are on the banks of this river. The farmers of those villages rely on this water to grow crops and vegetables which later gets Contaminated due to the water and later we end up eating the contaminated vegetables and crops, Compounding to the problem immensely are the industrial effluents which are treated only partially and retain harmful trace elements which enter the food chain. The flood plains are getting highly contaminated with plastic waste and trash deposited by the river which is a threat to workers who clean the river beds, as a result of the polluted river water Carries diseases which can kill people and animals. The fish which were caught from the rivers might be contaminated which can be really toxic to humans.
 
 
Call to action:
 
Potential solutions:
 
Short Term - Cleaning drives – The government can hire people to clean the river beds and flood plains weekly.
Long Term - Sewage treatment plants – The government can setup sewage treatment plans which doesn’t let sewage enter rivers.
Long Term- Construct underground drainage systems to flush rainwater from any place to musi river to help revitalise the river and reduce flooding.
Short Term -Restrict/ reduce constructing more check dams – More construction of dams will lease to slow water flow which can impact the fishes in the water.
Short Term -Tighten rules on land encroachment .
Long Term - Remove any blockages and relocate existing buildings.