The Ganges river, also called "Mother Ganga" has been worshiped in India for more than 2000 years as the symbol of spiritual purity. And though spiritual purity has remained untouched for more than two centuries, her physical purity has deteriorated as this holy river suffers from severe pollution.
According to different scientific studies pollution is taking a heavy toll on Ganges river and 300 million gallons of waste go into the Ganges each day, causing terrible effects.
The amount of domestic sewage being dumped into the Ganges has more than doubled since the 1990's, and some studies suggest it could double again in a next generation. Scientists also found that portions of the river have a fecal bacteria count nearly 4,000 times the World Health Organization's standard for bathing and recent water samples collected revealed even worse results with a fecal bacteria count 10,000 times higher than the WHO standard for safe river bathing.
So what is the source of this tremendous pollution So what is the source of this tremendous pollution? Majority of Ganges pollution comes from organic waste such as sewage, trash, food, and human as well as animal remains
India's population boom hasn’t been followed with appropriate waste-control infrastructure, and there hasn't been much effort on building new sewage systems that should do more than just channel waste into the river like current sewage systems do.
Human and animal remains also pose serious environmental and health threats. The Hindu religion has a sacred practice of depositing human remains into the Ganges river, and since these remains are usually only partially cremated they pose not only environmental, but also serious health threats to the local population, especially when combined with the carcasses of thousands of dead cattle that are also dumped into the river each year.
Industrial pollutants luckily account for much smaller proportion of pollution, and this is the good thing since the health and environmental impacts of toxic chemical waste can be far more threatening.
This level of pollution makes ideal ground for many water-borne diseases including cholera, hepatitis, typhoid and amoebic dysentery that are spreading among the 350 million who live along its shores or use its water. According to some estimations 80% of all health problems and one-third of deaths in India are result of different water-borne diseases.
In 1985 the Indian government launched plan to clean up the river, the so called "Ganges Action Plan". The original idea was to clean up the river in selected areas by installing sewage treatment plants and threatening fines and litigation against industries that pollute. This plan turned out to be one great failure since it tried to adapt a Western style solution to what is turned out to be non-adaptive region. Since then more than $ 300 million have been spent with very little to account for and even the federal environment minister said recently that $1.5 billion more was needed.
The government has so far made many promises but failed to deliver the right results. Perhaps the best reason for optimism could be the Supreme Court of India since lots of things get done judicially in India, and there are recent reports suggesting that legislators are starting to understand the importance of not discharging untreated human waste into the Ganges River which could be the first big step required for successful fight against pollution.
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