Pollution clogs India’s sacred Ganges River (The Australian)

link to the Australian  

ROBIN PAGNAMENTA | THE TIMES | JUNE 02, 2014 | 

·        “About 32,000 dead bodies are cremated every year in Varanasi - or 88 every day,” says Dr B D Tripathi, at the Centre for Environmental Science at Banaras Hindu University. “For this, about 16,000 tonnes of firewood is required and during the burning process about 7,000 tonnes of ash is released into the Ganges.” Although the cremation ghats are far from the only source of pollution in Varanasi, a notoriously dirty city of maze-like alleys, ancient temples, mosques and bathing ghats, where 60,000 people wash and swim in the holy river every day, there is no doubt that they are an important contributor.

·       According to the National Ganga River Basin Authority, which is trying to clean up the river, the amount of toxins, chemicals and dangerous bacteria found in it is now almost 3000 times higher than is considered safe by the World Health Organisation.

·       Adding to the problem is the high cost of the fragrant sandalwood and corkwood used in the pyres, which means that many families, cannot afford to cremate their loved ones fully - which leads to up to 300 tonnes of charred human flesh being tossed into the river annually. Industrial effluence, animal corpses and 250 million litres of untreated sewage pumped daily into the river add to the problem.