River restoration is an expensive and constantly changing industry across the globe (Wohl, Lane, and Wilcox 2015, Lavendel 2002). It involves specific measures to recover the lost or damaged components of a river (Wohl et al. 2005). Funding for such measures are often a challenge (Findlay and Taylor 2006). This paper presents an interesting case study of restoring a highly impacted stream with the help of a volunteer community Sikhs. The Sikh religion is one of the youngest religions in the world that originated with Guru Nanak Dev (1466-1539) (Singh 2010). In Sikh communities, voluntary Sewa (selfless Service) is considered an essential key (Cheema 2010, Townsend 2014, sikhs.org). The religious scripture of Sikhs Shri Guru Granth Sahib emphasizes the importance of Sewa by saying that “ You shall find peace, doing Sewa (Cheema 2010).” Sewa includes any type of service such as cleaning shoes of visitors in Sikh temples (Figures 1a and 1b), cooking community meals (Figure 1c), and cleaning dishes in Sikh temples (Figure 1d), donating ten percent of personal income, contributing labor in the construction of temples, helping during disasters (Kaleem 2017, Schmidt, Hawkins, and Phillips 2017), and any other type of community service. Sewa by the community during the construction or repair of a Sikh temple commonly known as Kar Sewa is often regarded very highly in their culture (Unknown 2018).
The religious philosophy of Sikhism also includes a strong emphasis on environment (Cheema 2010, Puri 1995) as:
pvxu guU pwxI ipqw
mwqw Driq mhqu ]
According to these words mentioned in the Sikh scripture Shri Guru Granth Sahib, air is the teacher, water is the father, and earth is our great mother (Cheema 2010, Sikhs.org 2011). While being considered as father, water also plays a significant role in Sikh faith in the form of holy reservoirs (known as Sarovars) around Sikh temples such as the Golden Temple (also known as Darbar Sahib) (Figures 2-5) and holy streams such as the Kali Bein (Black Rivulet, Figure 6). The Golden Temple is one of the most important shrines for Sikhs. Located in a densely populated part of the City of Amritsar, the holy reservoir water (Ram Das Sarovar) around Golden Temple is considered nectar by Sikhs and taking a dip in it is considered auspicious (Townsend 2014).
Similar to the reservoir of the Golden Temple, a river known as Kali Bein (Black Rivulet) also enjoys religious importance for Sikhs and is considered a sacred river. It is believed that the founder of the Sikh religion, Guru Nanak Dev, took a dip in this river near the city of Sultanpur Lodhi (Singh 2014). It is an approximately 160 km long middle order stream which flows in the southwest direction almost parallel to the River Beas before merging into the confluence of the Beas and Satluj Rivers near Harike (Singh 2013). It flows through the historical city of Sultanpur Lodhi (Figure 7) and the rural landscape (Figure 8) of the State of Punjab.
During the latter part of the 1900s, despite its religious significance as a sacred river, the Kali Bein experienced significant pollution due to the discharge from factories, sewage, and agricultural fields leading to the encroachment of hyacinth within the active channel. As a result, different portions of the stream were highly impacted organically as well as physically. Despite strong religious sentiments about holy streams such as the Kali Bein, the population pressure and development have significantly negatively impacted these fresh water systems throughout India.
In the late 1990s, a holy man, Balbir Sigh Seechewal (Figures 9a and 9b), started mobilizing Sikh communities by emphasizing the importance of clean water. It involved educating and reminding the community about the significance of water as father for Sikhs and the urgent need to stop water pollution. He called for volunteers to join him in Sewa cleaning different portions of the Kali Bein by removing water hyacinth and stopping the discharge from chemical plants. Fueled by the Sikh ideology of Sewa, thousands of Sikh volunteers joined him in his efforts to clean and restore different portions of the Kali Bein. As a result, many hydrologically disappearing and ecologically impacted portions of the Kali Bein were brought back to life. The upper portion (Figure 10) of the Kali Bein is now an active channel with clean water. The underwater photography (Figures 11 and 12) of this portion of the Kali Bein near the headwater reveals a rich habitat supported by sediment and underwater organic life.
Despite the lack of help from government authorities, Mr. Seechewal and his volunteers successfully cleaned significant portions of the Kali Bein. In different sections, religious phrases (Figures 13 and 14) are used by the group as a tool to encourage communities about the importance of clean water and in preventing its pollution. With the improvement of water quality, the overall ecology of the Kali Bein has improved. However, the biggest challenge is to sustain a healthy ecosystem of the Kali Bein and prevent any remaining current and potential future discharge of pollutants. There are sections of the river that are still experiencing substantial encroachment by hyacinth due to the discharge of sewage and chemicals (Figures 15 - 17).
In this phrase, 1E (pronounced as “Ik Onkar”) means one creative being manifest in all of the existence (https://www.learnreligions.com/ik-onkar-one-god-2993045 2019); and vwihgurU (pronounced as Waheguru) means the almighty God (https://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Waheguru 2019 )
While working on the cleanup of the Kali Bein, Mr. Seechewal is also mobilizing local communities and his followers to restore the disappearing local impoundments in rural Punjab. With little support from the government authorities and private sector, his efforts are largely driven by volunteers mobilized by the Sikh religious philosophy regarding the importance of clean water. As the second most populous country (Chamie and Mirkin 2017) with over 1.3 billion people, India is constantly experiencing increasing pressure on her water resources (Gupta and Deshpande 2004, Whitehead et al. 2015). The pollution of other sacred waters, such as the Ganges and other streams are examples of such environmental challenges in India (Sharma et al. 2014). The efforts of Mr. Seechewal present a unique approach to restore such impacted waters with minimal cost and bureaucracy in the world’s largest democracy by involving local communities. It offers a conceptual model (Figure 18) where religious ideology could be used as fuel to educate, encourage, and mobilize communities for long term environmental sustainability.
The author expresses his gratitude to the Institute for Environmental Studies at Western Illinois University and the Departments of Geography at Western Illinois University and Panjab University-Chandigarh (India) for supporting this research. Thanks to Seechewal Times Team for providing the photographs of Mr. Balbir Singh Seechewal. Dr. Dhian Kaur and her students from Panjab University-Chandigarh helped in the field visit to the Kali Bein. Robin Bauerly from the Institute for Environmental Studies at Western Illinois University helped edit the draft of this manuscript. Sincere thanks to different reviewers and the editor for giving very helpful feedback in revising this work.