Everyone knows how dirty the Ganges is, it's full of ashes, poop and superbugs. But the Indians still drink it. Many people in the field have felt unwell to varying degrees after drinking the water of the Ganges. So why do Indians drink it and do nothing? In fact, Indians drink the water of the Ganges, they will also get sick.
Indians who drink the waters of the Ganges
What happened to the Ganges now? What exactly is India doing? Can the water of the Ganges still be remedied? Today we will take a look at how dirty the Water of the Ganges, which is considered a holy river by India.
Ganges before 1980
The Ganges has always been the holy river in the hearts of Indians. The Ganges is not long in terms of length, but there are more than 400 million Indians living in its basin. Around 1980, the water of the Ganges seemed to be relatively clean, the water quality could meet the basic requirements of international standards, and even the fishery developed well, especially in the rainy season, the Ganges could still meet the standard of drinking water.
Once sparkling Ganges
At that time, people's lives were not as complicated as they are now, although they bathed and washed clothes in the Ganges every day, and the beneficial microorganisms in the Ganges were able to decompose these pollutants, which also benefited from the high oxygen content of the Ganges. So even though there were a lot of fecal corpses in the Ganges at that time, it still didn't cause serious pollution. These contaminants also gradually breed phages in the Ganges, which are parasitic viruses that use bacteria as hosts.
bacteriophage
Therefore, if a person is infected with a certain bacterium, injecting a phage can effectively kill this bacterium. There are a large number of bacteriophages in the Ganges. The reason why Indians believe that the Ganges has the ability to purify is also because of bacteriophages.
In the nineteenth century, cholera outbreaks caused by Vibrio cholerae spread across Europe. There have been brief outbreaks in India, but they haven't lasted long. At that time, Indians also dumped the bodies infected with Vibrio cholerae into the Indus River, and a French doctor was also curious that the outbreak did not break out in India. So I went to the Ganges and tested the area where the body was floating, and supposedly the water in this area should have been contaminated with bacteria, but strangely, the water under the corpse did not have Vibrio cholerae.
Vibrio cholerae
The doctor was also very suspicious, could it be that the area was found wrong? But the bodies were indeed infected with Vibrio cholerae, so he cultured Vibrio cholerae and dysentery bacteria and put them in the water of the Ganges. As a result, a few days later, the results were the same as before, and the bacteria were gone again. Later, it was found that these bacteria were difficult to survive in a high oxygen-containing environment, and they also contained a large number of bacteriophages that were about to be swallowed up by these bacteria. The presence of these bacteriophages also deepened the indians' worship and trust in the Ganges.
The bacteriophage "kills" the bacteria
More than 40 years after the Ganges
For more than 40 years, the water quality of the Ganges has been declining. In the early years, it could be said that the water of the Ganges was mainly polluted in the middle and lower reaches of the river, but in fact, whether it was upstream or downstream, the pollution level of the Water of the Ganges had already exceeded eight hundred times that of international standards. Today,the Ganges corpses are strewn across the field, and everywhere you can see domestic garbage and sewage, and you can't see that there is still a little clarity.
Status of the Ganges
- Middle and lower reaches of the Ganges
The middle and lower reaches of the Ganges are the most polluted areas, and this is the plain area, so it is the most densely populated. The people who live here today have continued their habits, and as India's population has grown, the pollution has become even worse.
As mentioned earlier, although the water of the Ganges with high oxygen content can purify some pathogenic microorganisms, after scientific research, it has been found that the water of the Ganges also contains another bacterium - E. coli. Today, every 100 milliliters of Ganges contains more than 100,000 E. coli, which is 200 times the normal value of international standard water bodies. In addition to these bacteria, there are many pollutants in the waters of the Ganges that are visible to the naked eye.
Microscopic E. coli
- Upper Ganges
For a long time, it has been widely believed that the upper Ganges is the only pure land. The water upstream flows in from glaciers and is not polluted in any of the lower and middle streams.
But this is not the case, Gengodri is located in the upstream area, and during regular tests of its water quality, it was found that the number of bacteria in the water has soared, especially in places close to the water source. This superbug is a bacterium that is highly resistant to a variety of antibiotics, and if it develops on this, even the bacteriophages in the Ganges may not be able to kill it.
Superbugs
What exactly is India doing?
Just a short period of more than 40 years have passed, why did the Ganges become like this?
- The factory discharges a large amount of sewage
The Ganges is significantly more polluted than before, and even the upstream areas are not spared. One of the most significant pollutions compared to before 1980 is the increase in sewage and waste discharged from factories. After 1980, hundreds of factories were built along the Ganges, including paper mills, tanneries and factories for the development of heavy industry, all on the banks of the Ganges.
There are a large number of factories on the banks of the Ganges
Most of these factories are not equipped with sewage evolvers, and 3 million tons of untreated industrial wastewater and sewage are discharged into the Ganges every day. The discharged sewage contains a large number of heavy metals, which can cause serious harm to india's aquatic organisms and the Indian people who live on water.
Discharge of sewage with heavy metals into the Ganges
The Ganges is home to millions of piranhas and Ganges turtles, as well as a large number of fish. Due to the discharge of sewage from the factory, a large number of toxins have already accumulated in the body of these organisms. Many of the fish that could not survive due to serious pollution disappeared, and the remaining creatures could no longer be fished and sold.
Since the Indians along the coast rely heavily on the water of the Ganges, they often take the water back to cook, and these heavy metals are ingested by the human body. One of these heavy metals is often detected in discharged wastewater: chromium. Once the human body ingests chromium, it is lightly feverish and vomiting, and heavy is harmful to intelligence, resulting in liver failure.
chromium
- A large amount of domestic garbage and wastewater is discharged into the Ganges
The pollution caused by Indians is also more serious than before, and under the development of Indian factories, India's economy has also developed to a certain extent. People's household garbage is also becoming more and more abundant, and more workers live along the coast. All kinds of plastic fibers, garbage containing chemical pollution, feces and other domestic wastes were also thrown into the Ganges.
Even the upper ganges cannot avoid such problems, and in recent years the purity of the upper ganges has been promoted, and every summer the upper ganges has become a pilgrimage site for many people. Originally, the population of a small town was only 100,000 people in the winter, but in the summer, more than 400,000 people will pour in.
People who come to worship in summer
However, India's infrastructure is clearly inadequate, such as toilets. Local people also set up a lot of toilets to prevent tourists from defecating in the river, but it is clear that these toilets are vulnerable to heavy rains in the summer, and then these toilet garbage will also be washed into the Ganges by heavy rain.
And the local sewage treatment plant can treat up to 80,000 people to excrete wastewater, but in the summer the whole town has at least 500,000 people, and the sewage treatment plant can only be helpless. So that's why superbugs appear in the upper ganges and the water quality is so poor.
Untreated sewage enters the Ganges
Also gathering so many people to come to the riverbank at the same time is a major festival in India. Like January 2022, India's "Big Pot Festival" lasted more than 40 days. As many as 1 million people still bathe and pray here due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 70% of them do not wear masks.
The Great Pot Festival in India
In fact, the 1 million people are already a small number, and before the outbreak, as many as 150 million people bathed in the Ganges every year, sometimes for up to 2 months. During this period, the Ganges will also be full of people, when their household garbage, stool, food scraps, etc. will almost all flow into the Ganges.
- Ashes and corpses in the Ganges
Another big cause of pollution in the Ganges is the ashes and corpses. Indians believe that Hindus advocate cremation, and some upper and middle caste people will burn up the ashes and then bring them into the Ganges. But for some lower castes, who generally don't have the conditions to go to the hospital to cremate the body, they will burn directly on the bank of the river, and then the wind will blow the ashes into the Ganges.
The Ganges river is a natural crematorium
The bodies of pregnant women, children and animals cannot be cremated and are buried in water into the Ganges. For Indians, the Ganges is the holy river, so their destination after death should also be the Ganges. For many low castes, only after death can they throw themselves into the Ganges, and only in the next life will they have the opportunity to become Brahmins, that is, high castes.
Throw the corpses of the Ganges
In fact, India is not without ways to govern, but the people have long been accustomed to such a life. It's not that they don't know how dirty the water is, but they still think that whatever the Ganges becomes, it's still pure in their hearts.