During the last class, we spoke dividing the main use of ganges into two general sections: individuals vs. industry. For thousands of years, Indian society has been using Ganges for spiritual rituals and there had not been an issue with massive pollution (however, it is important to keep in mind that with the exponential increase in population growth, the sheer magnitude of societal use for individual purposes have increased). On the other hand, industrialization is still a relatively new phenomenon, especially in the developing countries such as India and I believe this drives up the pollution rate much higher than individual use, in spite of the population growth. The white foam that you see which makes the ganges look like a giant bubble bath tub is clearly from the toxic waste being dumped by industry.
Ganges Use by Individuals vs. Industry