Sacred sirsiya river transformed into industrial sewer as pollution flows from nepal to india

What was once a lifeline for communities in southern Nepal has become an environmental catastrophe. The Sirsiya River, which flows from Nepal into India, has been transformed from a crystal-clear waterway where children swam and families drew drinking water into a thick, black industrial sewer that residents now avoid with covered faces.

Pradeep Kumar Bishwokarma, 38, remembers jumping into the river as a child to escape summer heat while his mother washed clothes on its banks. Today, the same river in his hometown of Birgunj—Nepal’s major industrial hub—resembles spilled oil more than flowing water. The air around it is heavy with the stench of sulfur and decomposing matter. “This is no longer a river,” Bishwokarma says. “It has become an open drain for factories, and we haven’t just lost a river, we’ve lost our self-respect.”

The river’s destruction stems from decades of ineffective environmental regulation and poor coordination among government agencies, allowing factories in Nepal’s largest industrial zone to dump untreated waste directly into the waterway. Despite numerous protests, court cases, government committees, and wastewater treatment plans, the pollution continues unchecked.

The crisis extends beyond Nepal’s borders, as the contaminated Sirsiya joins 6,000 other rivers and streams flowing from Nepal into India, spreading the environmental and public health impact across the region. The river’s transformation from sacred waterway to industrial sewer represents a broader failure to balance economic development with environmental protection in South Asia.