River Ganges is dying – Let us cultivate it

by
Rajiv Prakash Saxena
Despite the religious significance and daily importance of the Ganges River for the people of
India, it is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Today, it is considered to be the 5th
most polluted river in the world. Pollution of the Ganges River is caused by both human and
industrial waste due to India's rapid growth as well as religious events spread all over the year.
India currently has a population of over one and quarter billion people and more than 400 – 500
million inhabitants live in the Ganges River basin. As a result much of their waste, excreta
including raw sewage, industrial waste, fertilieser overflow, dead cattle, religious waste and half
burnt dead bodies is dumped into the river and its tributaries. In addition, many people bathe and
use the river to clean their laundry and wash their animals. Fecal coli form bacteria levels near
Varanasi are at least 3,000 times higher than what are the established norms by the World Health
Organisation as safe for human and farm or industrial consumption. This was the condition of the
Thames River of London and Rhine River of Germany in the Bavarian region around 50 – 60
years back. Thames used to stink and all form of aquatic fauna and flora were extinct in water. In
Germany the citizens used to defecate in the open rivers till the year 1950 after the devastting
World War II.
The Ganges River basin has been inhabited by humans since the ancient times. The 1st human
civilisation in the region was that of the Harappan civilisation. The civilisation then moved into
the Ganges River basin from the Indus River basin around the 2nd millennium B.C.E. Later the
Gangetic Plain basin became the vibrant nerve centre of the Mauryan Empire and subsequently
the Mughal Empire. The 1st recorded European to discuss the Ganges River was Megasthenes in
his work Indica.
The Ganges River occupies a unique position in the cultural ethos of India. Legend says that the
river has descended from the Heaven on the earth as a result of the long and arduous prayers of
the King Bhagirathi for the salvation of his deceased ancestors. From times immemorial, the
Ganges River has been India's river of faith, devotion, gratitude, prayers and worship. Millions
of Hindus accept its water as sacred and pure. Most of the Hindu families have a bottle of
Ganges River water in cans and urns. Even today, people carry treasured Ganges River water all
over India and abroad because it is "holy" water and known for its "curative" properties.
However, the river is not just a legend, it is also a life - support system for the people of India.
The water is also used to prepare ‘charna amrita’ during normal pujas at homes
In modern times the Ganges River has become a source of life for the nearly 400 – 450 million
people living in its basin, which provides them livelihood and daily bread. They rely on the river
for their daily needs such as drinking water supplies and food and for irrigation and
manufacturing activities. They are born, grow, live and die in this region, such is the faith of
these people. Today the Ganges River basin is the most populated river basin in the world. It has
a population density of about 1,000 people per square mile (390 per sq km).
Industrial practices in India also have little regulation and as the population grows these
industries do as well. There are many tanneries, chemical plants, textile mills, distilleries and
slaughterhouses, tanneries and hide colouring factories along the river and many of the industries
dump their untreated and often toxic waste into the river.
The water of the Ganges River has been tested to contain high levels of toxic chemicals like
chromium sulfate, arsenic, cadmium, mercury and sulfuric acid. In addition to human and
industrial waste some religious activities along the banks round the year also increase the
pollution level of the Ganges River. For example, Hindus believe that they must take offerings of
food and other items to the Ganges River and as a result, these items are thrown into the river on
a regular basis and more so during religious events. Human remains are also often placed into the
river at Sangam or Confluence of Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati, Allahabad every day, where
unburnt skull and bones and many personal items of the deceased are thrown into the river, in the
guise that the dead soul will get it in the Heaven, through the Ganges River.
Despite this level of pollution however, the Ganges River remains important to the Indian people
as well as different species of plants and animals such as the Ganges River dolphin, a very rare
species of freshwater dolphin that is native only to this area.
The Ganges River starts from the Guamukh and then passes through Gangotri, Rudraprayag,
Devprayag, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Muzaffarnaagr, Close to Bareilly, Kashganj near Aligarh,
Kanpur, Rae Bareli, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ara, Patna, Bhagalpur, Baharampur to
Kolkatta and then meets the sea at Haldia. The total length of the Ganges River is 2525 Km and
the navigable length is 631 Km. The Ganges River basin extends over an area of 1,086,000km2.
The drainage area lying in India is 862,769 km2 which is nearly 26.2% of the total geographical
area of the country.
Major left - bank tributaries of the Ganges River include Gomti (Gumti), Ghaghara (Gogra),
Gandhaki (Gandhak) and Kosi (Kusi). Major right – bank tributaries include Yamuna (Jumna),
Son, Punpun and Damodar. Many of the above mentioned tributaries further have their own
tributaries such as Chambal, which comes all the way from Kota, Rajasthan there may remote
chances that Chambal may inter alia contain nuclear waste also, but its chances are rare. The
hydrology of the Ganges River is very complicated, especially in the Ganges River delta region.
The entire Ganges River basin system effectively drains eight states of India. About 47% of
the total irrigated area in India is located in the Ganges River basin alone.
The purity of the water depends on the velocity and the dilution capacity of the river. A large
part of the flow of the Ganges River is abstracted for irrigation just as it enters the plains at
Hardiwar. From there it flows as a trickle for a few hundred kilometres until Allahabad, from
where it is recharged by its tributaries. The Ganges River receives over 60% of its discharge
from its tributaries. The contribution of most of the tributaries to the pollution load is small,
except from the Gomti, Damador and Yamuna rivers, for which separate action programmes
have already started under Phase II of "The National Rivers Conservation Plan".
The Ganges River carries the highest silt load of any river in the world and the deposition of this
material in the delta region results in the largest river delta in the world (400 km from north to
south and 320 km from east to west). The rich mangrove forests of the Gangetic delta contain
very rare and valuable species of plants and animals and are unparalleled among many forest
ecosystems. The belief the Ganges River is "holy" has not, however, prevented over - use, abuse
and pollution of the river. All the towns along its flow length contribute to the pollution load. It
has been assessed that more than 80% of the total pollution load (in terms of organic pollution
expressed as Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)) arises from the domestic sources, i. e. from
the settlements and ribbon development along the river course on the left and right banks. Due to
the over - abstraction of water for irrigation in the upper regions of the river, the dry weather
flow has been reduced to a trickle.
Rampant deforestation in the last few decades of the Ganges River basin, resulting in the top soil
erosion in the catchment area, has increased silt deposits in the river which, in turn, raise the
river bed level and lead to devastating floods in the rainy season and stagnant flow in the dry
season every year on regular basis.
Along the main river course there are 25 towns with a population of more than 100,000
inhabitants and about another 23 towns with populations above 50,000 inhabitants. In addition
there are 50 smaller towns with populations above 20,000 inhabitants. There are also about 100
identified major industries located directly on the river, of which 68 are considered as grossly
polluting and health hazard to the Ganges River. Fifty five (55) of these industrial units have
complied with the regulations and installed effluent treatment plants (ETPs) in their premises and
legal proceedings are in progress for the remaining units. The natural assimilative capacity of the
river in this region is severely stressed. The principal sources of the pollution of the Ganges
River can be characterised as follows:

 Domestic and industrial wastes: It has been estimated that about 1.4 × 106 m3 d-1 of
domestic waste water and 0.26 × 106 m3 d-1 of industrial sewage are going into the river
from bastis, towns and major cities along the banks of the river;

 Solid Waste: Solid garbage thrown directly into the river which not only pollutes the
rivers but creates stagnant water pools, which create more problems to the environment
and surrounding area;
 Pollution from the fields due to over fertilisation: Non - point sources of pollution from
agricultural run - off containing residues of the harmful pesticides, insecticides and
fertilisers;
 Dead animals, human corpse and bones: Animal carcasses and half - burned and
unburned human corpses are thrown into the river;

 Open Defecation: Defecation on the banks by the low - income people. This is most
pollution creators as when the wind blows the dried excreta blows with the pollens in the
air, which causes asthma problems;

 Industry pollution ending up in the water table of the region. This also creates another
problem in the long run. The ground water is also contaminated in localized spots;
 Bathing ghats, Dobhi ghats and Animal Ghats: Mass bathing and ritualistic practices
create abnormal damage to the ecology of the river;

 Boats dropping their waste in the middle of the river in the navigable area;
  Submersion of idols and festival offerings remains during festivals: The village and city
folks carry out large scale submersions in the Ganges River during Chatt Puja, Durga
Puja, Ganesh Puja and Laxmi Puja. The mud and clay idols get deposited on the river
bed, thereby reducing the water current flow and thus natural cleaning of rivers during
rain flows is slowed down;

 Recreation boats releasing toxins (gas and oil);

 Foodstuff (plastic wrappers, old aerated water cans, old water bottles and garbage);
 Non maintenance of the river banks: By not maintaining river banks for smooth flow of
the rivers thus inviting bottlenecks whereby a portion of the section along the banks are
clogged with waters that remain stagnant and breed diseases.
Many citizens think that house drainage will also be responsible for the river pollution, but it is
not true. House drainage mainly consists of decomposable organic matter. Rivers can get rid of
the pollution effect of house drainage by the self purification during course of its flow over long
distances. Therefore pollution mainly due to the chemicals which disturb BOD levels and aquatic
life is to be treated for river cleansing. This can be done by treating untreated liquid waste by the
polluting industries along the banks or very close to the banks. The river pollution can also be
reduced by treating the released city sewerage discharge by the municipal corporations directly
without any effluent treatment.
A systematic classification done by the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution
Control Board (UEPPCB) on river waters into the following categories:
A: Safe for the drinking;
B: Safe for the bathing;
C: Safe for agriculture; and
D: Excessive pollution,
The analysis done by the UEPPCB puts the Ganges River in the D category. Coli form
bacteria levels in the Ganges River have also been tested to be at 5,500, a level too high to be
safe for the agricultural use let alone drinking and bathing. It’s time that national efforts must be
taken to rejuvenate Ganges River.
A number of initiatives have been undertaken to clean the river but failed to deliver desired level
of results. Some suggestions are put forth:
Rivers cannot be cleaned but let us cultivate our rivers for the betterment of the society. On the
India’s 1st sewage sludge hygienisation plant that has been operating from the year 1994 in
Vadodara, Gujarat is a great work. It is called Sludge Hygienisation Research Irradiator (SHRI)
and in it the pathogens in the municipal sewage sludge are inactivated by the gamma radiation
emitted from cobalt – 60 source. The resultant dry sludge is used in the agriculture to supply
nutrients to the crops, improve soil properties and increase organic matter in the soil. Other 100
tonne a day dry sludge irradiation facilities are to come up in Ahmadabad and Nagpur. As the
BARC booklet entitled ‘Radiation Hygienisation of Municipal Dry Sewage sludge for
Agriculture Applications” says, disposal of municipal sewage sludge in the large cities is a
serious problem because the sludge contains a high load of potentially infectious
microorganisms, which can be a serious threat to the public health. Present sludge disposal
methods have their own limitations. Disposal into the sea is site specific and will spoil the
organism adjoining the sea coast. Incineration consumes a lot of electricity and air pollution is
caused which again add to the air pollution and acid rain in the near future. Land filling is not
possible because of the paucity of the land in the urban localities. However, ionising radiation
emitted by cobalt – 60 can inactivate the pathogens in the sludge. The government can float a
tender and set up these plants along the banks on the river in major cities to create organic
manure. These plants can work in the PPP Model and will control the effluents in the river.
MoUD and MoHUPA can fund this project for major cities under a PPP Model.
Bioremediation uses naturally occurring bacteria, fungi or plants to degrade substances that are
hazardous to the human health or the environment. Under the process, bacteria are cultured in the
bulk and applied to the flowing sewage. Then, the microbes are activated and they multiply -
with or without oxygen and food available in the form of organic matter present in the sewage.
Sometimes, enzymes are also added to activate the microbes. These microbes help to clean water
in the Ganges River. A group of heaper farmers and young entrepreneurs can be trained to carry
out this process near their banks for the benefit of the society. The Ministry of Water Resources
can take up this project.
In order to make the Ganges River live / flowing and dilute the polluted water inflows from
habitations and industries, at least 5000 cusecs flow is required from Narora to Farakka as
minimum environmental flow during the eight months of dry season. This is possible by
constructing storage reservoirs of capacity 100 Tmcft across the Ganges tributaries located up
stream of Narora city and reserving the stored water only for minimum environmental flows.
This will help rejuvenate many rivers in the region which are not perennial in nature and gigantic
floods will be controlled. An aerial survey of the region must be conducted of this region and
hydrological surveys must be done.
When the Narmada Bachao movement was initiated, the whole area was surveyed both by
travelling in the river by a raft and over the river in a Cessna aero plane. Dams can be built and
this will solve many of the problems which we have with Bangladesh over sharing of River
Teesta and Farrakha Barrage river flows. Rhine River after years of hard work have become
clean. One can see a coin upto 10 metre depth of the river.
If the rivers are not clean, environment will be polluted, fruits will be infected, cereals will be
undernourished, air will be polluted and vegetables will be sick. The humans eat these food,
drink water and breathe air and all human beings living in such environment will not be healthy
and their living age will get reduced.
Many Indians offer something at those places which they consider holy & at a place of worship.
Hindus consider rivers as their mothers. Anyone who gives to Hindus without any return is their
mother. Hence they throw coins in the rivers (also in ponds) as an offering. They think of it as a
source of good luck. Whenever I used to travel with my father during my growing years across
the Chambal River in order to go to my nanihal at Bareilly, my father always dropped copper
coins in the river. A special coin has been minted for the cleansing of the River Narmada, which
contains 94% copper and 6% silver and general citizens are encouraged to buy such coins and
drop it in the Narmada River in order to fight river pollution and cleanse, cultivate and preserve
the river. Another reason is that in the ancient time Indian currency was made using copper
unlike aluminum, stainless steel or gillette and some other cheaper elements which are used now
a days to mint the currency. Water kept in copper containers is good for health. Storing water in
copper and silver pots finds mention in the ancient texts of the Ayurveda for purification of the
water. The pollution in the water created dead fishes and acqua in the water. Water pollution is
caused when fire along the rivers industries is caused, and water used by the fireman is washed
in the river and soil sucks this water and contaminates the ground water.
Storing drinking - water in copper pots kills contaminating diarrhoeagenic bacteria from water.
Thus our ancestors had started a custom of throwing coins in the rivers, rivulets, ponds and wells
as rivers were the only source of water at that time and all great civilisations were built around
the great rivers of India. If copper coins remain in rivers for a long time, then it becomes
beneficial for those who drink it. Special coins can be minted for cleansing rivers and specially
Ganges River and these coins can be purchased from 1.65 lakh post offices and Indians must be
encouraged to drop them in rivers. The amount spent on such initiatives can be given 100% tax
rebates under the Section 80G of the Indian IT Act, 1961.
Using a toilet is something most people take for granted - but about 1.1 Billion people around the
world defecate in the open because they do not have access to proper sanitation. This is more of
a social problem in India than a financial problem. The villages lack toilets in the house, the
villages do not even have community toilets so both boys and girls, man and woman both young
and old defecate in the open.
Now a scheme in India is aiming to instill better toilet habits in children by “paying them to
poo”. Open defecation is a practice where people relieve themselves in fields, bushes, open
spaces and into open bodies of water. Sanitation created problems of the open defacation till
1950 in Germany, this created diseases in the society. Thypus and cholera bacteria moved freely
in the air and children are often sick. 90% of suck sickness occurs in rural India and 90% of time
doctors are not available for the villagers. This water is being drunk by mulching cattle, which
then produces milk and milk products. This milk is given to the young children and this creates
stomach problems. It poses a serious threat to the health of children. Hundreds of thousands of
children die every year because of diseases transmitted through human waste. In India, nearly
half of the population – more than 590m people – relieve themselves in the open. For many it’s a
daily ritual and often something they do even when public facilities are available.
Now a State Council in the Gujarati city of Ahmadabad has come up with a scheme where
children are being paid to use public toilets. Campaigners hope it will improve the situation in a
country where diseases such as diarrhea kill about 200,000 children every year. PM Modiji
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan lays great emphasis on this aspect of cleanliness and private sector
participation must be encouraged to build toilets along the Ganges River in large numbers. In my
opinionated view, the Government must finalise a uniform design with costing and uniform
design across the length and breadth of the Gangetic delta. Tender must be floated and under
community services free labour must be donated by school students and the construction
company should construct the toilets. A IT system can be created which collects funding from
foreign people and Indians settled to fund this project as a thanks giving to their villages.
The right to use toilets is as basic as the right to food, water or clothes. The practice of open
defecation, sorrowfully, continues in India even after 70 years of Independence especially in the
rural, semi rural and large metros along the railway track areas. The construction of toilets is
important following reasons.

 To control the spread and growth of diseases;

In order to foster the process of construction of toilets, awareness must be generated through
campaigns to educate the men folk. The programmes like swatcch bharat must include these
initiatives with proper planning and implementation by the government.
A district in eastern India has announced plans to publicly shame people who defecate in
the open into using toilets, it's reported. Villages in the Nadia district in West Bengal are
setting up "walls of shame" featuring the names and photos of people caught relieving
themselves in public.
The polluting industries must be forced to install effluent treatment plants at the outflow
channels in the river. They may be considered to be given 200% rebate on the investments to
filter the water.
The cities adjoining the river area must be forced to circulate the water three times before
flowing it into the city drains. The clean water must be used for cleaning and bathing. This waste
water must be used to flush the excreta in the excreta pits. The water may again be used to water
the lawn and surrounding areas after preliminary round of cleaning.
Village level ponds must be dug to submerge the idols during Puja festivity. In the City of
Gwalior a water tank was constructed and a portion of this tank had space for immersion of idols
during Dol Gyaras during Ganesha festival.
Stress is given both to emission control and immision control to reduce and minimise the water
pollution. These can be done by strict government monitoring.
River is a living organism. Let us make it more livable and clean.