We’ve heard of animals coming back from the dead after being euthanized… and not in a creepy “Pet Sematary” sort of way. But what about a lake? Can people actually bring lakes back to life? Well, one Indian man by the name of Ramveer Tanwar seems to think so. Now it’s no secret that pollution has put the world in great jeopardy. According to World Water Council, about 844 million people don’t have clean water. But Ramveer has taken action to bring Lakes in India back from the dead and his efforts might just save the world. But here’s the thing. He can’t do it alone!To add insult to injury, people were turning these wetlands into their own personal trash bins. So, one day, he decided that enough was enough and set out to save the lakes and ponds in the area. But to do that, he had to get everyone onboard.
Ramveer shared his findings about the water crisis with children from his village and asked them to tell their parents about the issues they were facing with water pollution. Unfortunately, his warning fell on deaf ears as no one in the village believed their water supply would run out. It just didn’t feel like something of that magnitude could ever happen.
He took the time to knock on every door around the village to warn every neighbor that their water resources were slowly disappearing. But that was just the beginning. Every Sunday, he met up with students and their parents to facilitate a safe place where everyone could ask questions, discuss, and suggest methods for water conservation.
The meetings were officially baptized by authorities as “Jal Chaupals,” and in 2015, a group of volunteers helped Ramveer clean up the garbage, while simultaneously planting trees around it.
The restoration was truly uncanny. Soon enough other villages and nearby districts asked Ramveer to lend them a hand and helped them clean out their villages too.
But just getting rid of trash and plastic is only step one. Once these bodies of water get cleaned, the volunteers need to dig a separate pit that allows them to collect garbage. A double filtration system gets put in place, where a filter (made of wooden planks and a patch of grass) helps prevent pieces of plastic to end up in the water.
Luckily, his efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by the Government, who helped him set up “Groundwater Army” organizations in each district where Ramveer lives. This unsuspecting hero continues raising awareness and even spent his own money all in the name of cleaning out the planet. Clearly, the world needs more people like Ramveer!
