“Hyderabad stands on the banks of musi river,which divides the historic old city and the new city.And has been the source of water for Hyderabad, however the river is being contaminated by the authorities as well as the citizens of hyderabad and it is returning the favor to its surroundings.”

Hyderabad is situated on the Musi river in the heart of Telangana, a major Deccan upland region(peninsular India). In the nineteenth century, work began on rebuilding and  further extending the city to the north of the old city  across the Musi. Further north, Secunderabad grew as a British cantonment(military facility), linked to Hyderabad by a mile long bound on Hussain Sagar Lake. The former Nizam hired Visvesvaraya to help design the drainage system and prevent floods. In 1920, ten miles upstream from the city of Osman Sagar, a dam was built across the river.The river originates from Ananthagiri Hills near  Vikaraba.It generally flows eastward before turning south at Chittaloor. It merges into the Krishna River near Miryalaguda in Nalgonda at Vadapally. Like all civilizations, Hyderabad was established along the banks of a river, Musi in this case, which was the city's lifeline for centuries before it turned into the massive drain that it is today. 

                                                                                                                                                The Musi, which is a tributary of the river Krishna, is sarcastically referred to as the city’s sewage drain because most of 1,300 million litres day sew-age generated by Hyderabad ends up there.The pollution board monitors water quality at nine points along the Musi river.Poor hygiene and polluted ground waters interventions are causing health hazards in the villages of Musi. High TDS(Tax deducted at source) indicates the presence of sewage water and untreated industrial effluents in the water. However, it seems they did not get to see the high levels of pollution in Musi river which cuts through Hyderabad and in Hussainsagar.While the BOD(Biochemical oxygen demand) figures have doubled, COD(chemical oxygen demand) has more than tripled. The  value of total coliforms is almost the same. The only relief is that compared to figures from 2011-14, only the BOD value has decreased.An official from TSPCB said, “Mixing of sewage is a major issue. It should be controlled to improve the water quality. Industrial effluents are also a problem but they just form a small percentage of the pollutants, which get mixed directly into Musi. Even people should work towards this individually if they want to restore the Musi to its old glory. So, safe treatment of wastewater before disposal may sustain its natural environment, which can improve the self-purification of river and help in sustaining river ecology. The main cause of the contamination is arthritis, diarrhea, jaundice, skin allergies, stomach pain, malaria, food poisoning, eye diseases and all kinds of pediatric problems in the area. Pollution has directly affected agriculture, stockbreeding and fishing, creating high-risk conditions in the food intake.This same study shows the decrease in purchasing power experienced by these inhabitants as they need to buy water to drink, and how pollution has degraded the economic life destroying most of the trades such as the dyeing and washing of fabrics, pottery or those derived from fishing, which is now almost non-existent. The water treatment plants only solve part of the problem, as shown in the short film, and the study concludes by alerting to the need of urgent measures for the medical care of the affected population, the treatment of wastewater and the regeneration of agricultural soil.

The government should initiate the process of desilting the river and clearing it of all the accumulated debris as well as garbage. It also should come up with fencing and construct retaining walls along the entire river stretch.So it’s high time that we need to take some stringent actions about it. We still have the chance to save our dying rivers. The drastic change in environmental conditions clearly indicates that our world is heading in the wrong direction.The most important thing that each individual should understand is rivers belong to all of us. It is a joint responsibility of each and every individual to keep them clean. We need to reduce water pollution at a personal level. Blaming the government will not help since pollution is caused by a single person.

Individuals will take these steps to help restore the Musi River, and governments will take serious action as well. Musi will be able to rebirth as a result of this.