00:01Every time we collect the discarded clothes from the river we are
00:05disheartened. The Tamira Barani, less than 130 kilometers long, yet one of
00:11Tamil Nadu's most important rivers. It flows year-round, quenching people's
00:16thirst and keeping the farmers fields alive. Temples line its banks. It's a
00:21spiritual magnet and a vibrant center of ritual. Here people pray, remember and pay
00:28homage to the deceased. This is also the case at the Papanasa third temple in the
00:34Tirunelvalli district. Though the river is revered as sacred, the reality is
00:41different. Devotees often throw their clothes, milk cartons and other ritual
00:45offerings into the river. It's a serious environmental concern as it's a crucial
00:50source of drinking water for four districts of Tamil Nadu. Volunteers have
00:55already set up baskets to collect the items, but it's no use. Clothes keep
01:00ending up in the river. Trained sifters like Bhaskar regularly retrieve items from
01:05the water.
01:10We remove the clothes from rocks and roots, but within two days the river's full of
01:15them again. The sifter's walk is dangerous and not just because of the
01:19strong current. People often throw framed photos of their dead relatives into the
01:27river and the glass breaks against the rock. While cleaning we get injured by the
01:32broken glass. I have multiple injuries as I have worked as a sifter for 15 years now,
01:37but we continue to clean the river of clothes. On weekdays the sorters retrieve
01:45about 20 bundles of clothing from the river. On weekends when volunteers help out
01:50that number can rise to 50. A non-profit organization ensures that the items are
01:55washed and then transported by truck to the riverbank to dry. Then the processing
02:04begins. The collected waste is first sorted into categories such as towels, lungis and
02:12other soft fabrics before being cut into small pieces. We get around 50 kilograms of clothing
02:18a day. That's about 1,500 kilograms a month. If left in the river, the waste would severely
02:24contaminate the water. By recycling it into floor mats, we are preventing large-scale pollution,
02:30helping to clean the riverbed and providing work for many women.
02:38Back at the river, last year alone, nearly 94 tons of trash were pulled from the water around
02:43the temple. Over the past decade, that figure has reached about 1,300 tons, environmental activist
02:51Moorthy tells us. It is particularly important to him and his colleagues to retrieve the clothing
02:59from the water. This is because it often gets caught on the riverbed and provides a breeding
03:04ground for bacteria such as E. coli.
03:12If you look at hospital records in summer time, many of the reported illnesses are water-related.
03:19Despite the efforts of the government and NGOs, fully purifying the water in this region remains
03:25as a Sesifian task.
03:26I'm going to go to the house.
03:27I'm going to go to the house.
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