River of life

It is mind boggling witnessing how people use the rivers here. From bathing to clothes washing, tooth brushing to washing food, transportation to fishing the rivers are such a social setting as people rely on them for their survival. The irony is that the rivers are often so horribly polluted, with pipes dumping out unknown liquids, cows and goats grazing and deficating along the banks, garbage disintegrating in the current. It is horrifying to watch people bathe their children and collect their food from these waters. Thus, in a land of a billion people that are all fighting for resources and survival, people use what they can and make the best life they can from what is available to them. The rivers suffer as a result, and the biologist in me wonders what these waterways looked at before the population numbers swelled to the point they are today. Unfortunately the future doesn't look bright with the population continuing to grow along with demands on the finite resources of this country. I can't even imagine where you begin to address the problems and how you would implement a program when so many people are accustomed to living this way. And so these rivers continue to be the lifeline of the communities living on their banks, providing what they can...and unable to fight for themselves.