The Gomti Chronicle: Living on the Water's Edge

Rivers have special relations with people. Throughout the course of a river: it shapes the life of its dependents in more ways than one: serving as a source of water, the fertile landscape yielding food, and the attractive waterfront being a lucrative natural getaway. Changing times have altered the relations people have with rivers and riverscapes.

 

One such river in India, a tributary of the Ganga, is the Gomti. The 940 km long River Gomti serves the alluvial plains of Uttar Pradesh, originating from Gomat Taal, a lake in the city of Pilibhit. The river, and the riverfront have been shaped by nature, and by people through its history. Its cultural and ecological significance shapes life as we know it in the State capital, the city of Nawabs: Lucknow. 

Prior to the era of the Nawabs, the Gomti floodplain served as productive landscape, bringing life to the plains as a transportation artery, with developments along the river being utilitarian in nature. Formation of the city of Oudh, led to changes in the popular perception of the riverfront: The Nawabs viewed the river as an attractive landscape to integrate with the built environment (Nagpal & Sinha, 2009). The 18th Century in Lucknow saw a plethora of monumental features come up around the river: as charms on a necklace; that still adorn the city’s cultural heritage.

The Gomti River Legacy

---

 

The river landscape was an integral element of the grand architectural design; appreciated for its views, valued for its ambiance and microclimate. But post the first war of Independence in 1857, the demand from the urban fabric changed with British influence on the riverscape becoming more apparent. The colossal architectural spectacles designed in this era, were made with the intent to keep nature, synonymous with heat and dirt; aloof from the built (Gulati & Sehgal, 2015) to present a more sterile environment. The treatment of the river as a foreground: while not detrimental to the ecosystem, led to a loss of significance and shift in the relationship of the riverscape with the city dwellers. 

 

Forgotten Water’s Edge

---

 

After Independence and post the impact of the major flood event in 1960 (Doshi, 2014), the view towards the river morphed: the waterbody becoming a hazard. To curb flooding instances, embankments were built along the river, bisecting the urban fabric from the waterfront. With the river now a forgotten back alley (Nagpal & Sinha, 2009), it served as a dump yard for greywater and domestic waste, hampering the river ecosystem. The disconnect of the now urban Lucknow and its dwellers from the river was apparent in the developments that followed. Projects while being built on the floodplain were disconnected from the river, the aim being to hide it rather than to work with it. 

Changing Outlook: The ‘Riverfront Park’ Concept

---

 

The value of the river as a public asset: the concept of ‘riverfront development,’ was introduced in Lucknow after the completion of the Sabarmati Riverfront Project in Ahmedabad (Singh & Sagar, 2020). Motivated by the public appreciation of the same, in the year 2005, the Uttar Pradesh Government commissioned a riverfront development project in the city center led by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA). The aim was to enhance the appearance of the deteriorating river: while addressing issues like pollution and mitigating flood hazard. The major proposal of this project was to channelize the 12km selected stretch of the river with diaphragm walls. The highlight of the same being a Riverfront Park adorning 2.1km stretch of the river (Dutta, et al., 2018).

The development, though stopped midway, has dramatically altered the floodplain as it used to be. The riverfront park is often described as an eco-friendly project that has no parallel anywhere in the country (Lucknow News, 2016). And while the public park was beneficial in raising the real-estate values of Gomti Nagar area and offering the urbanites a natural escapade; looking at the landscape as a blank slate perhaps did the river more harm than good. 

Issues of the Gomti today are behemoth, several ecologists calling the status of river as good as dead (Singh R. , 2019). As a plain-fed river, the Gomti gains water by rain and groundwater (Singh, Kumar, Kumar, & Singh, 2013). As it flows and floods, meandering along the floodplain, it has left behind a host of lakes and wetlands. It is connected to catchment areas in the river basin via human-made channels and natural tributaries. Several of the issues that the river faces today have not originated at the river, but at the ancillary water sources in its catchment. 

Future Projections: The eerie reality

---

 

Tracing back the development along the river in the city in the 21st century, it is apparent how anthropogenic forces have modified the river and the floodplain to a more manicured, linear entity. As an urban river, the Gomti now has a multitude of new requirements upon it – from just a source of water to a more disproportionately demanding riverscape (Prominsky, Stockman, Zeller, Stimberg, & Voermanek, 2013).

 

The Gomti has self-replenishing power as it progresses away from the various sources of contamination (Iqbal, Ahmad, & Dutta, 2019) and hence, the situation of the river as it enters and leaves the city is much better in comparison to the city center. But as the city expands to the outskirts these areas are at risk of following the similar formula of development, leading to further disconnect of the ecosystem and people with the riverscape, converting the diverse river landscape to a mere concretized channel. 

There is not one independent root cause that has led to the demise of the river, but an amalgamation of mismanagement strategies by stakeholders of all scales that are accountable and need to be addressed. The perception of the riverfront today for the stakeholders is as a resource: that just gives and is hence, taken for granted. The current relationship that humankind has with the river is parasitic and will eventually lead to a loss of life as we know it. As urban planning practices often segregate zones for landscape preservation/restoration, and those for anthropogenic needs, we lose the opportunity for collaborative and sustainable development. Instead of catering to the concerns of each in alienated zones, it would be advantageous to look at the issues holistically. This is especially critical along riverfronts: as planning for each of these variables impacts the ecosystem and the watershed in its entirety.

In this matter, waterfront parks have immense potential. These parks have social benefits as they offer the local population much-needed natural respite in urban areas (Sadeghian & Vardanyan, 2013). They are also environmentally crucial: as patches of landscape in the riverine ecosystem matrix (Fumagalli, Colombo, Ferrario, Senes, & Toccolini, 2014). 

 

Gomti: The way forward

---

 

The Gomti ‘Riverfront’ in Lucknow today includes several types of parklets: from ritualistic and religious ghats to botanical preserves, water parks and recreational/ monumental nodes. It is the time now for a multi-faceted approach to design: to connect the people with the river and its ecosystem as it is. A landscape that educates the stakeholders on how the river works, its connections and related ecosystems. A landscape that informs people as to how their actions impact the river, and how they are unconsciously dependent on it. 

 

To design with nature, one would have to consider the water system as a whole: starting from the smallest unit in the catchment in the city and modifying its outlook with the changing landform of the urban fabric.

The next set of images are renditions of possible nature-based design options in contrast to the current scenario of Lucknow’s water system at different scales to aid revival of the Gomti riverfront.

Transitioning to a Nature-Based Gomti

---

 

The Gomti is in dire need of a new restoration strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of urbanization on the water system. It is imperative for the cities urban design to understand the river - the landform and biodiversity and it’s dependant stakeholders to form solutions that are not controlling the ecosystem, but rather working with it.

 

As India transitions to a more sustainable planning approach the integration of Nature-Based Solutions can play a pivotal role in  restoration and conservation of  degraded ecosystems like Gomti. The biggest bottleneck to the process is not monetary; Nature-Based solutions can be considered as cost effective (World Bank Group, 2019). It is  rather the stakeholders perceptions of the river, the unawareness and unaccountability of their actions and its impacts on the ecosystem, and their ability to collaborate to ensure successful implementation. 

 

It is the people that now shape the river and hence, it is a necessity  to educate them: to promote participatory approaches, reshape their perception of water and reconnect them to the water’s  edge:  Reimagining a diverse, dynamic and yet healthy Gomti.

• Doshi, V. K. (2014, September 14). Have we learnt from past floods? Clearly not! Retrieved from Press Reader : https://www.pressreader.com/india/hindustan-times-lucknow/20140914/281646778342401

• Dutta, V., Sharma, U., Iqbal, K., Adeeba, Kumar, R., & Pathak, A. K. (2018, July 30). Impact of river channelization and riverfront development on fluvial habitat: evidence from Gomti River, a tributary of Ganges, India. Environmental Sustainability, 1, 167-184. doi:10.1007/s42398-018-0016-0

• Fumagalli, N., Colombo, C., Ferrario, P. S., Senes, G., & Toccolini, A. (2014, February 28). Suburban waterfront with ecological and recreational function: planning based on network analysis. Journal of Agricultural Engineering, 44(4). doi:10.4081/jae.2013.183

• Gulati, R., & Sehgal, V. (2015). TRANSFORMATION OF GREEN AREAS IN URBAN LANDSCAPE OF LUCKNOW: Need for Holistic Intervention with respect to River Gomti. 

• Iqbal, K., Ahmad, S., & Dutta, V. (2019, October 25). Pollution mapping in the urban segment of a tropical river: is water quality index (WQI) enough for a nutrient-polluted river? Applied Water Science. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-019-1083-9

• Lucknow News. (2016, November 17). ‘Gomti Riverfront project has no parallel anywhere in the country’. Retrieved from Hindustan Times: https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/gomti-riverfront-project-has-no-parallel-anywhere-in-the-country/story-xQI9ctXGzKtLWVqBfTiq1J.html

• Nagpal, S., & Sinha, A. (2009). The Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow, India: Revitalization of a Cultural Heritage Landscape. Journal of Urban Design, 14(4), 489-506. doi:10.1080/13574800903264838

• Prominsky, M., Stockman, A., Zeller, S., Stimberg, D., & Voermanek, H. (2013). River Space Design: Planning Strategies, Methods and Projects for Urban Rivers.

• Sadeghian, M. d., & Vardanyan, Z. (2013). The Benefits of Urban Parks, a Review of Urban Research. Journal of Novel Applied Sciences, 231-237. 

• Singh, M. S., Kumar, S., Kumar, B., & Singh, S. (2013, May). Investigation on the hydrodynamics of Ganga Alluvial Plain using environmental isotopes: A case study of the Gomati River Basin, northern India. Hydrogeology Journal, 20 (3), 687-700. doi:10.1007/s10040-013-0958-3

• Singh, R. (2019, June 14). River Gomti is dying, we let that happen. Retrieved from Gaon Connection: https://www.gaonconnection.com/news-in-english/depleting-underground-water-level-and-encroachments-lead-to-the-death-of-river-gomti-45075

• Singh, R., & Sagar, D. (2020). Lucknow now has a swanky Riverfront. Is it the final nail in the coffin for the Gomti river? Gaon Connection. Retrieved from https://en.gaonconnection.com/lucknow-riverfront-another-nail-in-the-coffin-for-the-gomti/

• Times News Network. (2022, April 16). Revival of 2,000 ponds to swell up ailing Gomti river. Retrieved from The Times of India : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/revival-of-2000-ponds-to-swell-up-ailing-gomti-river/articleshow/90870335.cms

• World Bank Group . (2019, April 10). Nature-based Solutions: a Cost-effective Approach for Disaster Risk and Water Resource Management. Retrieved from World Bank.org: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disasterriskmanagement/brief/nature-based-solutions-cost-effective-approach-for-disaster-risk-and-water-resource-management

About Mitali Kumar | Water Seekers Fellow 2022

---

 

Mitali holds a Master's in Landscape Architecture from the National University of Singapore. She co-founded Terrarium in 2020: a research-centric Landscape Design Firm. As a professional, she tries to raise awareness of water's social and ecological value in urban landscapes through her design projects.