The Ganges River is a lifeline for the people of India. The river itself is revered as holy and the source for the origins of life. Because of India's high reverence for the Ganges, it is overused to the point of extreme pollution. During worship, Hindu's practice rituals such as regular ablutions in the river and the release of giant floating statues into the river. At death, the people dump cremated or whole remains of loved ones into the river. These are point sources of ceremonial pollution. Pollution is also contributed to the river by sewage, industry, and agriculture. Raw sewage runs directly into the river untreated, despite attempts to revamp a proper sewer system. Factories surrounding the river also dump their waste into the river. There are regulations that require some treatment of industrial waste before being dumped into the water, but these regulations are not strictly enforced. Finally, agriculture runoff (non-point source pollutant) into the river also contributes to the pollution in this river. From the beginnings of the river, these points sources are continuously dumped into the river to mix with the non-point sources of pollution and is sent downstream towards the Bay of Bengal. This mixture of point and non-point pollutants mix to essentially make the water toxic.
The Ganges River