With India's economy on fire, a holy river is fouled

VARANASI, India — At first light, thousands of Indians come to the temple landings along this bend of the Ganges River to bathe in the water, which in Hindu religious belief purifies their souls. But the water itself is far from pure.

"The Ganges is India's holiest river, but it has become a toilet," said Veer Bhadra Mishra, director of the Sankat Mochan Foundation, one of the few Indian organizations trying to clean up the Ganges.

"Too often the media focuses on people bathing themselves or washing their clothes in the Ganges, but these are nothing compared to the raw sewage pouring into it," he said.

As India becomes a global economic power, government leaders have been slow to face the often deadly environmental impact of the country's explosive growth.

Instead, they have focused the bulk of the nation's limited resources on roads, airports and electricity to support the manufacturing and information technology sectors that are fueling the boom.

China and other developing countries in Asia and Africa face similar problems trying to balance economic growth with protecting the environment. But India faces mounting pressure to protect its supply of fresh water as climate changes nudge it closer to an era of water scarcity, according to a recent World Bank study.

The Ganges is not only the country's most important source of fresh water, it's also central to the religious beliefs of India's 800 million Hindus. In Hindu mythology, the river descended from heaven, and contact with it leads to salvation.
more from The Statesman