Krushnaa Patil, the youngest Indian mountaineer to have scaled Mount Everest, says she has an “awesome responsibility” as part of an eight member international team that set off from Goumukh on a 55-day, 1,500 mile trek along the Gangesh to raise awareness, incite advocacy and ignite action for the global water crisis.
“It’s an awesome responsibility to represent Indian women on the team. I hope to improve communication with the locals we willl meet along the way,” the 26-year-old Patil, the only Indian woman to have scaled six of the world’s seven tallest mountains, told IANS on the phone as she readied for the first Access Water Expedition on the Ganges, an effort that will be repeated on each continent every few years, ending the Access Water series with a journey to Antarctica.
“I absolutely hope to continue with this effort. Just imagine rafting down the Amazon or the Nile. The chance of sailing down one at least one major river on each continent is just too exciting,” the Mumbai-based Patil, who has a number of awards, including the Rajiv Gandhi Puraskar (2009) said.
“We chose the Ganges to begin the Access Water series because the area represents a great example of a deep-rooted dependence on water for human existence,” said Ann Bancroft of the US, an educator, explorer and team co-leader. “There is a critical need to educate students and local communities about the water crisis that not only affects overpopulated areas like India, but to also connect the same problems to their own backyard.”
The team includes co-leader liv Arnesen of Norway, Olfat Haider of Israel, Cindy Jiaojiao Hu of China, Marcia Gutierrez of Chile, Kim Smith of South Africa and lisa te Heuheu of New Zealand.
The team will pass through a variety of communities and important cities including Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Patna before concluding near Kolkata and Delhi in early December.
With education being the foundation for the team’s work, they will work with essential partner organizations like TERI, WAGGGS, UNESCO, Young Pioneers of China, Google, Norwegian Embassy, Percept Profile and Tunheim, to explore the river to find how communities and organizations are working to demand cleaner water and inspiring others to do the same, a statement said.
“The team hopes to show how the water and environmental issues along the Ganges river are similar to other places around the world and stress the significance of innovative solutions that are vital to the future of this planet,” the statement added.