GANGA----------------------------------River Ganga - Sulabh Envis Centre

India is endowed with
rich water resources.
Approximately 45,000 km long
riverine systems criss-cross
the length and breadth of the
country. These rivers include
Himalayan snow fed rivers,
peninsular rain fed rivers and
coastal short rapids.
The total geographical area
of 3.29 million square km of the
country has been divided into 12
major river basins, 46 medium
river basins and 14 minor and
desert river basins. The major
river basins account for 78%
of total surface area and serve
80% of the population. The
Ganga river basin is the largest
of these, extending over the
states of Uttarakhand, Uttar
Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
Rapidly increasing
population, rising standards of
living and exponential growth of
industrialization and urbanization
have exposed the water
resources, in general, and rivers,
in particular, to various forms of
degradation. The deterioration
in the water quality of the river
impacts the people immediately.
Many Indian rivers, including
the Ganga in some stretches,
particularly during lean flows,
have become unfit even for
bathing.
Realizing that the rivers of the
country were in a serious state
of degradation, a beginning
towards their restoration was
made with the launching
of the Ganga Action Plan in
1985. It was envisaged as a
comprehensive programme
of river conservation with the
objective of improving the water
quality. It was visualised that in
due course, the programme
would be enlarged to cover
other major rivers of the country.

Overview
April-June 2015 | 3 |
GANGA: The run of the river
Ganga: the run of the river
Passing through five states, the Ganga covers 26
per cent of the country’s landmass. Despite the
enormous amounts of money spent on cleaning
it, the river continues to run polluted. Worse,
the pollution is increasing even in stretches that
were earlier considered clean
Note: MLD: million litre per day (the figures refer to the collective discharge from the drains into the riv
Causes of
pollution in the
river
Ganga


• Total distance covered by the
river is 400,000 square miles.
• The river Ganga originates
at Gangotri glacier on the
southern slopes of the
Himalayas, some 14, 000 feet
above sea level.
• River Bhagirathi and Alaknanda
join each other at Devprayag to
form River Ganga.
• The mouth of River Ganga
forms a vast delta, the
Sundarban delta (the largest
delta in the world).
• The River covers 29 cities
having a population of more
than 100,000, flows through
23 cities having population
between 50,000 and 100,000
and near about 48 towns.
• The Ganga is considered as
the holiest river in India with
massive spiritual, religious
and ritual significance. Near
about 40% of Indian population
survive on Ganga by using its
water.
• The Ganges tolerates domestic
waste such as defecation,
untreated industrial waste,
and pollution during religious
events. Every day 1.7 billion
litres of such waste run into
the river. Near about 89 million
litres of sewage is disposed off
in the river daily.
• The Ganges is one of the
most polluted rivers in India
in which level of pollutants is
more than 3000 times than the
permissible limit defined by the
WHO as ‘safe’.
• The Ganges is home to over
100 different species of fish
and more than 50 different
types of amphibian.
Facts: River Ganga
• As per studies carried out by
the Uttarakhand Environment
Conservation and Pollution
Control Board, the Ganges
water near Haridwar has
Coliform bacteria at 5,500
levels which are 100 times
more than the permissible
limit. Directly pouring human
faces, urine and sewage into
river is the major reason of
this rise. Coliform bacteria
are found human colons but
become highly hazardous
when found in water or food.
• Harmful pesticides and
fertilizers in agriculture runoffs pollute the water. The
water of this holy river has
become unfit for drinking,
bathing and not even safe for
agriculture purposes.
• Mercury has also been found
in the Ganga river water
in the study conducted by
the Environmental Biology
Laboratory, Department
of Zoology, Patna
University. Though mercury
contamination has not reached
to an alarming level but its
presence is still worrisome.
• The Ganges basin has very
fertile soils and its water is
used to irrigate fields growing:
rice, sugarcane, oil seeds,
lentils, wheat and potatoes.
• The Ganges river basin has the
highest population of any river
basin in the world. It contains
over 400 million people.
• There are two major dams on
the Ganga. One at Haridwar
and the other dam is a part
of the hydroelectric project at
Farakka.