Cleaning River Ganga Is Not A ‘One-time’ Operation

It is an irony that the river that has always been considered the holiest for the Hindus and whose banks held the most profound form of knowledge is also one of the most polluted water bodies in India. River Ganga is considered the ultimate cleanser of sins while her banks hold spiritual experiences for a practising Hindu. At least, people do believe it to be so.

That is till they visit the river to get rid of their sins. But one look at the River Ganga is enough to understand that we would better retain our sins within ourselves. If getting rid of our sins means courting some serious skin diseases, keeping them might be a feasible solution. After all, we do commit sins now and then, and cleansing them is going to cost a lot – physically, mentally and medically!

On a serious note, talks of cleaning the River Ganga are getting more serious and louder by the day. What was started by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, way back in 1985, has always remained in debates and discussions, without any effective action plan in place.

But between then and now, much water has flown under the bridge and a huge amount of human debris has been dumped, too. The half-burnt bodies float on the surface like they always did. But then, that’s the sacrifice the river has to make to keep her worshippers off the sins they have committed.

According to recent estimates by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), fecal coliform levels in mainstream Ganga have shot up much above the acceptable levels since years. And the stretch of the River Ganga that remains polluted is said to be well beyond 2,500 km. It starts from Gangotri where the religious ceremonies take place and goes up to Diamond Harbour.

The highly oxygenated upper stretches are not spared from pollution either. It is a surprise that the river has not dried up yet, as a result of such action. Places like Rudraprayag and Devprayag leave the river increasingly polluted, thanks to the religious tourism and the mindless urban travellers always in a hurry to cleanse themselves.

Ganga absorbs as much as 3,364 litres of sewage on a daily basis apart from the regular dumping of burnt dead bodies, flowers from religious offerings and discarded clothes. Then there is a large amount of plastic in various forms, dumped by tourism-promoting hotels and mindless travellers.

The Ganga Action Plan (GAP) has been receiving money for a long time, but the operations were not sustainable enough to keep the river clean of pollutants.

The key here is not just cleaning the River Ganga. It is not a one-time operation or a permanent solution. The government is simply pumping in more and more money into Ganga cleaning operations, but environmentalists have been warning us throughout that it will not resolve the issues in the long run. They say the operation has to be a mammoth exercise only in the beginning, with effective cleaning practices being strictly imposed and followed in the subsequent phases.

The focus should be on a few key areas. Once we have enough water to carry out the operations, the ‘need’ is to filter the water from this point to dilute and assimilate waste from the water. Another stage will be to implement sustainable methods of treating the waste that is currently being released into the river. Making policy-level decisions to stop industries from releasing effluents into the river is of great importance as the ‘Clean Ganga’ operations have to reach a level of participation from those who are abusing it.

Although religious institutions make for a small yet considerable part of the groups that are polluting the river, it has to receive a complete buy-in from all the parties concerned – the Ganga now needs their help to stay clean.

After all, changing a few practices to save the Ganga (an integral part of the Hindu psyche) for future generations is something that could go a long way in protecting the river and its tributaries. No matter how significant our beliefs are, the cost of treating a water body, polluted with dangerous waste, is simply much higher than maintaining the cleanliness. And the cleanliness can be maintained with people’s understanding and active participation.

In fact, simple economy would be enough to understand this. If rivers have enough clean water for dilution, cities need to spend less on hardware and energy for water treatment. If this can be reduced over a period of time, the assimilative capacity of the river for self-cleaning the waste will surely improve, thus benefiting both humans and the nature.

Moreover, instead of expecting the upper riparian states to release more water (in the absence of water-sharing agreements, as of now), states can become self-sustainable by building checkpoints to collect the rainwater, to be used for river waste dilution. This can also increase the water table in the area.

Therefore, when the exercise of cleaning the Ganga is undertaken, it should also change the way we look at the river. Until then, governments can keep pumping in money without the people taking any responsibility for the project.