Question

Now a days ganga water in highly polluted. What are the main sources of this pollution? What measures are being taken by the government of India to check this pollution?

Answer 1

The main causes of water pollution in the Ganga river are the increase in the population density, various human activities, {like bathing,washing clothes,bathing of animals} and dumping of various harmful industrial waste into the river without treating them to render them harmless. The Ganga action plan was, launched by Shri Rajeev Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India on 14 Jan. 1986 with an aim to control the pollution of water from agricultural runoff and cattle wallowing, and also to check the throwing of unburnt and half-burnt bodies into the river. A new technology of sewage treatment like Up-flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) and sewage treatment through afforestation has been successfully developed.

Based on the wise inputs of experts and members of Ganga Action Parivar, the three main areas of focus are:

1. Restoring ecological flows at every point along the Ganga’s course.
2. Preventing and curtailing all waste water, starting with sewage and industrial waste, from mixing with the river. This especially needs to be prevented along the heavily polluted Kanpur and Varanasi stretches of Ganga.
3. Promoting massive water conservation and water resource management, inclusive of rain water harvesting schemes, at both centralized and decentralized levels within the Ganga River Basin.

These are some ways to save Ganga