A 26-Year-Old Man Is Reviving Dead Lakes in India, and the World Needs More Heroes Like Him

The world is facing its worst ever water crisis, according to the latest reports, with 844 million people lacking access to clean water. One of the main problems that causes this is water pollution. Luckily, there are people like Ramveer Tanwar from India, who can’t stand ignoring this problem and who’ve decided to take action.

Bright Side is amazed by the story of this Indian young man, who wanted to help his village and his people, and has done a great job. We can’t wait to share with you a great example of how the efforts of one man with strong willpower and endless energy made a difference and saved dozens of lakes and ponds.

There are real life superheroes who care about water.

One day, 26-year old Ramveer Tanwar realized that the lakes and ponds near where he played with his friends when they were kids, had started to disappear. Also, a lot of wetlands were polluted and had become dumping areas instead. He decided that it was time to change this and educate people about the importance of having clean water.

It wasn’t easy to persuade the villagers at first.

Ramveer gave lessons to children from his village at the beginning and even they felt that they had to do something about their dying water resources. Ramveer told the students to warn their parents about the existing problem with water pollution and water conservation. Sadly, this didn’t work, since the villagers refused to believe that they could ever run out of water.

If the mountain would not come to Ramveer, Ramveer had to go to the mountain.

After this Ramveer decided that he had to do this on his own. So he went from house to house, to every villager, to explain the issue of the depleting water resources to them. Later he told the students to gather their parents together every Sunday in a special place, where he would facilitate a discussion and suggest methods for water conservation. Finally, it started to happen, and the villagers started to realize the problem they were facing.

His effort was recognized by the authorities, and the meetings were officially named “Jal Chaupals.”

Patience and hard work always pay off.

In 2015, Ramveer and his team of volunteers, his students, and their parents removed all the garbage from this pond. Not only did they clean it, but they also planted young trees around it. Later on they invited the local administration to come and see its glorious restoration. The good news spread fast and soon enough people from other villages and districts started to come to Ramveer to ask for help with the restoration of their local lakes.

A smart and well-thought out filtration system

Thanks to the help of many volunteers and enthusiasts, dozens of lakes and ponds have been restored. The most important thing in cleaning these bodies of water was to prevent further pollution. Once the water has been cleaned, the team digs out a separate pit to collect garbage. Then they install a double filtration system: a filter made of wooden planks and a patch of grasses, to prevent bigger and smaller garbage pieces from making their way into the water in the future.

Pits and filters are regularly cleaned once a week.

The journey continues.

Ramveer wanted to continue his attempt to preserve water in India and has had to wear many hats in this effort. The government of his state helped him and set up something called “Groundwater Army” organizations in each district of Ramveer’s state, and the young hero is now the coordinator of his district. Together they focus on water conservation in their areas. Sadly, the government has no fund for these types of awareness programs, and Ramveer has had to spend his own money to continue what he started.

Did you find this story interesting? How is the water situation in your country? Are lakes and ponds polluted? Do people try to save them? Share your situation with us in the comments section!