ELIXIR OF LIFE K. DHIREN VI - “ A “
THE GANGA RIVER
About The Ganga River ďƒŠ The Ganga is the largest river in India with an extraordinary
religious importance for Hindus. Situated along its banks are some of the world’s oldest inhabited cities like Varanasi and Patna. It provides water to about 40% of India’s population across 11 states. Serving an estimated population of 500 million people or more, which is larger than any other river in the world.
Pollution Of The Ganga River ďƒŠ The main causes are the increase in the population density, the
enhanced per capita pollutants discharged to the river and the meager dry season water flows in the river due to upstream uses.
GANGA RIVER POLLUTION
Agricultural Waste ďƒŠ The waters from Ganga and the tributaries irrigate the fields of the
millions of acres of agricultural crops which are grown along the banks. Many of the farms use non-organic methods to grow their crops, spraying their fields with harmful, toxic chemicals. These chemicals are then washed down into the rivers, filling the water with dangerous, cancer-causing chemicals such as DDT and HCH.
Industrial Waste ďƒŠ Because of the establishment of a large number of industrial cities
on the bank of river Ganga. Chemical plants, textile mills, distilleries, slaughterhouses, and hospitals and grow along this and contribute to the pollution of the Ganga by dumping untreated waste into it. They are a cause for major concern because they are often toxic and non-biodegradable.
Religious Waste ďƒŠ During festival seasons, over 70 million people bathe in the Ganga
over a few weeks to clean themselves from their past sins. Some materials like food, waste or leaves are left in the Ganga for ritualistic reasons.
Ganga : The flow of the river
Effects ďƒŠ The people use the river for bathing, washing, eating, cleaning
utensils and brushing teeth. But the people affects with waterborne diseases like typhoid, tuberculosis, dysentery, cholera.
Prevention Preventing and curtailing all waste water, starting with sewage and
industrial waste, from mixing with the river. This especially needs to be prevented along the heavily polluted
Kanpur and Varanasi stretches of Ganga. Restoring ecological flows at every point along the Ganga’s course.