Ganges River

The Ganges (Ganga) River originates 3,959 meters above sea level in the Himalaya Mountains of India, flowing from the Gangotri glacier, which bears ice that is four thousand years old. The Ganges flows through many important Indian cities such as Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, and Calcutta before reaching the Bay of Bengal. Around 40 percent of the Indian population lives in the Ganges watershed; as of 2003, about 400 million people live along the banks of Ganges River.

At 2,525 kilometers, the Ganges River basin ranks among the largest in the world in drainage area and length. The Ganges brings sustenance to the alluvial Indo-Gangetic Plain, which is one of the world's most bountiful food-growing areas. Having a rich biodiversity (biological diversity as indicated by numbers of species of animals and plants), with fifteen species of mollusks, fifty-one species of insects, four species of freshwater prawns, eighty-three species of fish, twelve species of freshwater turtle, and three species of river dolphins, the river is a lifeline for many aquatic creatures.

It has many tributaries, and the largest is the Ghaghara River, which meets the Ganges before Patna. Two major dams on the Ganges, one at Hardwar and the other at Farakka, have a crucial impact on the flow of the river. The Hardwar dam diverts much of the Himalayan snowmelt into the Upper Ganges Canal, built by the British in 1854 to irrigate the surrounding land. Experts contend that this has caused severe deterioration to the flow in the river and is also a major cause for the decay of the Ganges as an inland waterway.

Although the Ganges is associated with myth, and its water is considered to be holy and to have healing properties, rampant pollution has marred its water quality. Among the most polluting industries on the Ganges are tanneries, especially near Kanpur, which empty toxic chrome into the river. The river basin also has sugar and paper mills, cloth, woolen, cotton, and rayon mills, battery industries, ordnance factories, thermal powerhouses, distilleries, and fertilizer corporations.

Heavy metals such as cadmium, zinc, nickel, lead, chromium, and copper are concentrated in the river water and the sediments. In 1995 the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) listed 191 polluting industries in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 6 in the state of Bihar, and 67 in West Bengal. These industries were found to be discharging toxic substances into effluent flows with BOD (biological oxygen demand) concentrations of more than 100 milligrams per liter. However, industry is not the only source of pollution. Around 1 billion liters of untreated municipal waste also flow into the river.

In addition, inadequate cremation procedures and surface runoff from farmlands where chemical fertilizers and pesticides are applied contribute to pollution of the Ganges. Dr. D. S. Bhargava, an environmental engineer at the University of Roorkee, suggests that while the Ganges decomposes organic waste fifteen to twenty-five times faster than other rivers, no feat of organic decomposition can match mass quantity of organic waste is poured into its waters from the cities along its banks. In Varanasi, for example, fecal coliform levels have been recorded as high as 100,000 colonies per 100 ml. Another threat looming over the Ganges is silt deposited in its higher reaches in the Himalayas.

Taking stock of the situation, the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department is planting trees in the catchment areas (areas where water gathers) to prevent soil erosion. However, at the current rate of 3,0 hectares of forest a year, it will take 150 years to arrest siltation fully. In response, the Chipko movement was launched in the Raghwal hills of India in the 1970s. Chipko movement activists, who are mostly local villagers, are demanding a stop to tree felling in the Himalayas so that floods in the Ganges basin can be checked.

To combat pollution, the $270 million Ganges Action Plan (GAP) was started in 1986. GAP Phase I aimed at building waste-treatment facilities with Dutch and British support. Rakesh Jaiswal, executive secretary of a Kanpur-based nongovernmental organization, EcoFriends, said nearly $150 million pumped into Phase I was misspent mainly due to bureaucratic delays and indifference. In fact, sewage treatment plants under the plan have not been completed. Electric crematoria are standing like white elephants, entirely unfunctional.

The plan has not worked satisfactorily, largely because of the lack of participation by people along the river. Activist Supreme Court lawyer M. C. Mehta said GAP has failed because politicians have sided with industrialists. Recently GAP Phase II was approved by the Supreme Court. GAP Phase 11 is designed to clean the tributaries of the Ganges—the Yamuna River, which flows past New Delhi and the Taj Mahal, and the Gomti River, which flows through the historical city of Lucknow. Proponents hope that GAP Phase II works better than GAP Phase I.