Pollution Cloud Over the Olympics )

Washing laundry worsens the Ganges River's problems with pollution.

Many consider the Ganges to be the pathway to heaven.

Plastic is only the tip of the iceberg-the worst of the Ganges pollution is the less visible human waste.

Bathing in the Ganges is believed to purify but also causes diseases.

A general view shows sewage being dumped into China's longest waterway, the Yangtze River, making the water red. [Photo: China News Service]

Notice the trash in the background as the children fish on the Yangtze(Chang Jiang)River

As a factory on the banks of the Yangtze River spews pollution, the need for civil society intervention is rising. (Photo: Nayan Chanda)

Floating Pollution in the Yangtze(Chang Jiang)River

Polluted water on the Yangtze River

Run off from a factory on the Yangtze River

Taking out dead fish at a fishery in Wuhan, Hubei province, after a sewage leak at a nearby factory started killing fish on a large scale

Poisonous smog and dust hung in the sky over a local industrial park

Pupils all put hands on mouths when they pass through a local industrial park

Chemical factories along China's Yellow River:

Horrible black smog hung over a local industrial park, blotted out blue sky entirely

Poisonous smog hung over the industrial park already heavily polluted local air:

Pollution. Deforestation. Wildlife trade Pollution. Deforestation. Wildlife trade. The aspirations of more than one billion people. These are some of the critical issues that India grapples with every day.

Crowded, polluted streets of New Delhi, India.

The polluted waters of the River Yamuna at Wazirabad on the outskirts of New Delhi, 15 June 2007. From a boat on the Yamuna River that flows past India's capital, it's easy to spot bubbles of fetid gas sent up to the water's surface by rotting sewage -- and that's after at least 350 million dollars has been spent on cleaning it up

BEIJING - China's environmental watchdog ordered factories polluting a scenic lake to stop production Tuesday, following an algae bloom that contaminated the drinking water supply for 2 million people

A river in China is so polluted that it actually runs red.

China and India, the top two most populated countries in the world, have very serious air and water pollution problems. These are causing serious illnesses and diseases among the people and animals.