Pollution of Ganga

Pollution in Ganga & Ganga Action Plan Failures

Ganga which is the life line of millions of people and of great religious significance is being polluted by both domestic sewage and industrial pollutants that are being dumped in to the river untreated. This causes health hazard for over 400 million people who directly and indirectly use the river water in their daily lives. In Varanasi rivers "Varuna" and "Asi" have been polluted beyond recognition that now they flow not a rivers but just torrents of sewage and waste water mixing at the start and end of the holy city of Varanasi (Varuna-Asi).

The Ganga Action Plan launched in 1986 by the Government of India has not achieved any success despite expenditure of over five billion rupees. Even though the government claims that the schemes under the Ganga Action Plan have been successful, actual measurements and scientific data tell a different story. The failure of the GAP is evident but corrective action is lacking.
The ineffectiveness of the current Ganga Action Plan could be found based on the results observed

Location / Parameters	Biochemical Oxygen Demand (mg/l)	Fecal Coliform Count / 100ml
At beginning of the Varanasi City ... Near Assi/Tulsi ghat	3-8 mg/l	20,000 - 100,000 per 100ml
Downstream of the Varanasi City ... Varuna confluence with Ganga	20-50 mg/l	1,000,000-2,000,000 per 100ml
Permissible limits for bathing	Less than 3mg/l	Less than 500 per 100ml

Note : Higher the Biochemical Oxygen Demand, higher is the pollution (conversely there is more dissolved oxygen needed to make the water safe)