Rajat Banerji | April, 2003

To call the Ganga mighty is almost an understatement

Originating in the Himalayas at an altitude of 4,100 meters (13,452 feet) near the Gangotri Glacier, the river traverses 2,525 kilometres (about 1,565 miles) before emptying into the Bay of Bengal.

	Life is fleeting. But the great river just flows on and on.

Its drainage area is almost the same as the total area of France, Germany and Belgium, but with twice the population density. The Ganga and its tributaries serve about 1/3 of India's urban population who depend on its waters-directly or indirectly. The Ganga Basin sustains around 400 million people in India and 15 million in Nepal.


More than a river
These staggering statistics aside, the Ganga is more than a river for the billion-plus Indians. In a country steeped in tradition and religion, the river is often referred to as Ma Ganga, or Mother Ganga. In Hindu belief, a dip in Ganga washes away all sins. Not surprisingly, millions bathe in the river every year. In most Hindu homes, Ganga water is liberally sprinkled around at religious ceremonies and, in fact, at any ceremony symbolising a blessing from Mother Ganga.

Those most blessed are the dead - those fortunate enough to be cremated along her ghats. They receive Moksha or freedom from the cycle of rebirth, which is integral to Hindu philosophy.

She isn't feeling well
But all is not well with "the river of heaven." With constantly swelling populations, corresponding pollution loads are constantly on the rise. Along its banks are no less than 29 cities with population in excess of 100,000 persons and 73 cities with population exceeding 50,000 persons. Add to this are 132 large industrial units in the river basin.

This translates into a staggering 1.2 billion litres of municipal wastewater daily and 2.1 billion litres of industrial effluents, according to a report issued by the Central Pollution Control Board in New Delhi. And the river is virtually starved of vital flows of fresh water because of agricultural canals and weirs, which siphon away water for irrigation.

	Cattle contribute to river pollution along the ghats. The plan is to move them to some other location, far away from ritual bathing areas.

Celestial considerations
The celestial status accorded to the Ganga in Hindu belief must also be taken into account. Pilgrim centres such as Varanasi attract millions to the river every year. Most of them cast their offerings (often in plastic bags), into the river. Typically, these offerings include dollops of ghee (clarified butter), ashes and flowers.

Unaccounted numbers of bodies of religious men and also of infants, are immersed into the river in accordance with Hindu tradition, in addition to the bodies of those whose families are too poor to afford cremation. On a given day in the Ganga Basin city of Kanpur, 129 dead bodies were sighted by an Eco-Friends environmental action group. Dead animal carcasses, wallowing cattle, laundering businesses (dhobi ghats) and direct defecation do not improve the situation.

All of this translates into a river that is grossly polluted in stretches. In addition: Poorly planned urbanisation, deforestation along the length of the basin, increase in agricultural lands and overall infrastructure development have all led to unprecedented sedimentation of the riverbed.

Laundering also contributes to river pollution, mainly due to the type of cleaning agent used.

Studies suggest strong evidence of desertification, with sand accounting for 79-99 per cent of the riverbed. Besides choking the channels (which can increase flooding), this also causes drastic changes in the river marine life formations such as micro and macro-invertebrates on the riverbed. These life forms are at the starting point of the food chain. Their reduction quite naturally spells doom for species higher up on the food chain, such as fish.
And, of course, pollutants cause high fish mortality, according to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MEF). It pointed out that pollutants reduce their growth and reproductive capabilities. Other reports, meantime, indicate a drop in the catch of pollution-sensitive species such as carp, found downstream from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh province.

In the Kanpur-Patna stretch, where carp account for 2.56-15.73 per cent, catfish (which are comparatively pollution-resistant) account for 6.68-34.38 per cent of the catch. Between Patna and the Farakka barrage, catfish often accounts for 100 per cent landings. Other studies indicate that the toxic metal levels in Ganga fish were higher than permissible levels.


Rajat Banerji is an environmental journalist who has carried out research about Indian rivers for the past four years