An aerial image of River Nyabarango published in The New Times on Thursday must have left environmentalists shuddering and area leaders holding their heads in embarrassment.

The country’s longest river, with its source in the lush Nyungwe Forest, snakes not in a cascade of crystal blue water, but muddy brown substance that is devoid of life and painful to look at.

How did such a natural heritage and national pride get to this level? It is well that officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Police’s Environment Protection Unit did a fact-finding on the cause for the alarming state of the river. 

Gross pollution of River Nyabarongo is faulted on human activities such as illegal mining and encroachment on both river banks that has caused gross erosion. These are exacerbated by heavy river sedimentation, domestic and industrial discharges, clearing of natural vegetable and river flow disturbances.

Now the campaign is on to turn Nyabarongo river blue again. To rejuvenate this heritage, officials have called for complete ownership of the procession. But this call for concerted efforts will not be enough if some of the officials with stakes in firms or activities faulted for the current state of the river are not placed at the forefront of the cause.

Officials owning firms that pollute River Nyabarongo should not only be punished but also compelled to take the lead in returning the river back to its natural feel.

But why should the country care about how River Nyabarongo looks?

The condition of our rivers, more than any other natural resource, reflects our attitude toward the world around us, and, ultimately, our attitude towards ourselves. Society that does not protect its rivers destroys its lifelines.

Besides being a catchment area that ensures purification of the water we eventually use in our homes, rivers are home to ecosystem and a good habitat for biodiversity. With its stake and meandering around districts, Nyabarongo is a water source to hundreds of thousands, both directly and by way of filtering into underground water sources.

This is not a time to feel ashamed of what we have destroyed in River Nyabarongo, but how to get it back to its natural blue feel. This onus is upon everyone.