The Polluted River Poisoning A Million Children A Year

paper was light gold in medieval times [Music] i want tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong [Music] the ganges is the most venerated river on earth on its 2500 kilometer journey from source to sea it flows through the physical and spiritual heart of india to bathe in these waters is said to purify the soul to die on the riverbank is to gain entry to heaven the ganges spiritual influence is matched by its physical power [Music] the river and its tributaries support half a billion people but today a crisis is looming which threatens to turn this river of life into a river of death as india's population keeps growing the pollution created by its people is defiling the waters which they worship each year over a million young children are poisoned by this river today the ganges though holy is less than pure [Music] no river on earth has as much influence over its people as the ganges to millions of indians this river is a physical lifeline providing their only source of fresh water to hindu believers the ganges is also the earthly form of the goddess ganga [Music] its waters are said to be so powerful that just a drop can cleanse the body of sin [Music] for thousands of years this river has been the bedrock of indian culture and belief to the people she is the mother who grants the maternal salvation but in recent times the quantity and quality of this water has been threatened while the himalayan glaciers which feed the river are retreating the amount of pollution entering the waters is rising day by day within a generation the ganges might not only be too polluted to use it might cease to exist today the people of india are facing the greatest challenge in the history of the ganges how to purify a river which to them is the embodiment of purity itself [Music] in hindu culture ordinary water is believed to have extraordinary powers millions of indians follow a daily ritual of pouring a handful over themselves to remove the impurities which accumulate in the course of a day when water is moving in a river it's even more precious since it carries any pollution away in its flow all of india's major rivers are considered to be holy but the river ganges is the holiest of all [Music] from its source in the himalayas to its delta in bengal the ganges creates a river basin that supports one tenth of the world's population but according to ancient hindu scriptures the river ganges originally flowed in heaven long ago she agreed to fall to earth to help humankind by cleansing and resurrecting the ashes of the dead to save the world from the impact of the river's descent the hindu god lord shiva caught the ganges in his hair [Music] today a whole culture of worship has sprung up around the place where this mystical event is said to have happened situated at the foot of the himalayas gangotri is the first town through which the ganges flows on its course from mountain to sea this also marks the place where the river ganges is said to have fallen from heaven to earth in winter gangotri is snow bound and desolate but as soon as the ice melts and the roads open the place comes alive with thousands of pilgrims [Music] visiting the ganges at gangotri is one of the most powerful pilgrimages a hindu can make at an altitude of over 3000 metres reaching gangotri is no small task most pilgrims arrive by bus enduring a journey of days on overcrowded coaches along treacherous mountain roads when they eventually set foot on solid ground foremost in their mind is reaching the river which they call mother ganga once at the water's edge they fulfill their pilgrimage by bathing in the ice cold flow just as goddess ganga came to cleanse the ashes of humankind these pilgrims believe that the river will remove their sins here where the river runs fast and pure its cleansing powers are thought to be particularly strong to thank the river for purifying them the pilgrims may offer prayers at the temple built so it is said over the exact rock upon which lord shiva sat to receive the ganges in his hair some pilgrims employ priests to conduct private ceremonies of devotion for a few rupees payment they make offerings to mother ganga on the pilgrims [Applause] the effort of reaching gangotri means that only devout pilgrims are prepared to endure the long coach journey to get here but the most devout of all do not travel by bus they choose to walk every step of the way i have come from banaras it's very far it's a thousand kilometers away i walked all the way it took me three months i didn't have any money and by begging for food and drink i managed to come here nani nath is a sadhu literally meaning good man he is one of some four million sadhus in india who turn their back on the real world and dedicate their lives to the contemplation of god for these men pilgrimage is a way of life and enduring the hardship of walking to gangotri is a sign of their devotion living on charity and donations some sadhus wear orange clothing to symbolize their rejection of material things [Music] some like nane cover themselves in ash as a sign of austerity for sadhus coming to gangotri is an essential part of their lifelong quest to worship the deities among whom goddess ganga is one of the most powerful every morning i get up bathe before my rituals and apply ash i perform prayers to the mother ganga and for the people then having had my meal and water and after the evening prayer i have to sleep the next morning i wake up at four o'clock and bathe again this is how one has to live in gangotry but for the most about pilgrims gangatri is not the end of the journey many continue walking 17 kilometers beyond the town across the gangotri glacier to the ice cave at gamuk literally meaning cow's mouth this ice cave contains the milky glacial spring which feeds the ganges as the spiritual source of the river hindus believe that the waters cleansing powers here are sublime but the exact location of this spring has shifted over the course of time as the ice fields which feed the river have retreated one man who's watched this alarming transformation take place is swami sundaran he now lives in gangotri but first visited the town as a young pilgrim in 1948 me i first came to gangatri in 1948 gangatri is at 10 300 feet now an entire town will settle here the house which swami sundaran built for himself is a testament to his lifelong passion for photography when he traveled on from gangotri to gamuk he took his camera with him from right to left this is a panorama of eight photographs has receded by three kilometers swami's photographs document the disturbing changes which are happening on the himalayan ice fields each year the gangotri glacier shrinks by 25 meters this would explain the apparent confusion in religious accounts of where the ganges begins for though the glacial spring which feeds the river rises today at gamuck four thousand years ago when the hindu scriptures were written the glacier would have extended all the way to gangotri giving rise to the legend that it was here the ganges fell to earth [Music] the glacier is shrinking for two reasons it's clear global warming has a part to play but the pilgrims themselves are also responsible [Music] to feed gangotri's religious tourism industry thousands of trees are being cut down for fuel and building causing erosion and weakening the glacier walls experts warn that at this rate the glacier will disappear by 2035 and the spiritual source of the ganges will dry up completely the effects of such an event would be catastrophic for all those who depend on these waters to sustain both their body [Music] the ganges plunges downstream through the rugged mountains of northern india bringing life to the land in these poor and remote regions the river provides the only source of fresh water in a country which suffers severe water shortages this is the greatest gift the ganges can bestow [Applause] [Music] later along its course the river sustains many more people as its waters are diverted and pumped to thirsty cities and towns today the ganges and its tributaries support half the population of india [Music] as well as quenching people's thirst the river sustains their livestock and fertilizes their land [Applause] the reason for this is that the ganges carries more silt than any other river in the world mineral-rich sediment eroded from the himalayan rocks is carried along in the flow and deposited across the river valleys creating rich agricultural soils it's no wonder that the gifts which the river brings are seen as blessings from the goddess some 225 kilometers downstream of gangotri is the town of haridwar haridwar is revered as the place where the ganges leaves the mountains and enters the plains becoming the force which fertilizes the land each year 18 million people visit the town to celebrate this crucial junction in the river's story [Applause] a steep river slopes are lined with specially built steps known as gaps to allow easy access for bathing but anyone entering these waters takes a big risk for here where the ganges changes from mountain torrent to mighty waterway the current is particularly strong each year several people are washed away by the raging waters yet it's precisely because of the fast waters that the worshipers flock to bathe here the rapid current is proof that the river arrives fresh and pure from the mountains [Music] is one of the first major towns downstream of the ganges source that is easily reached by road making it one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in india since it's the religious obligation of every hindu to make at least one visit to the ganges in their lifetime coming to haridwar is a chance for the whole family to fulfill their duty the town is set up to cater for this mass religious tourism from the shade of their wooden shelters hindu priests offer a variety of services from arranging accommodation to conducting religious one which is therapies important to hindu families is the mundane a head shaving ceremony performed in the first or third year of life the hair present at birth represents unwanted traits from past lives to ensure the child doesn't carry bad qualities from the past to the present the head is shaved and the old hair thrown to the ganges to be purified families go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that their children's mundane ceremony takes place on the ganges before leaving haridwar even the most pious tourists like to buy a memento of their visit among the most popular gifts are sealed vials of river water known as gangajal the label claims that adding a few drops of gangajal to your bath will ease all kinds of illness and rid the body of sin most locals however choose to buy a plastic bottle which they fill up for themselves [Music] what seems like a cheap gift is in fact the most precious souvenir any visitor can take home for hindus believe gangajal has supernatural powers it's claimed that never mind how long it's kept ganges water does not deteriorate but stays fresh even when exposed to the air it's even said that mosquitoes can't breed in ganga jar the pilgrims believe the river possesses these powers because it's the earthly form of the goddess ganga but some seek a more scientific explanation downstream of the main bathing gats dr dua leads a team of scientists from the malaria research center taking samples of ganges water for analysis through studying the precise composition of these samples dr dwar's team have revealed that ganga jal does have unique qualities yes it's true that ganga jail has a higher level of dissolved oxygen compared to water from other areas this is firstly due to the fast flow of the river and secondly the turbulence of the water the water is very turbulent and we think that is why it has higher levels of dissolved oxygen the scientists believe that the high levels of oxygen in ganga jal make it difficult for bacteria to reproduce this would explain why the water stays fresh for so long but today dam and water diversion projects are altering the flow of the river current and so threatening the water's self-cleansing qualities we know that when dams are built the water flow decreases and so mosquito breeding potential increases wherever the water becomes stagnant mosquito breeding will automatically increase because of this we are undertaking studies in the haridwar region we immerse mosquito larvae in the water to see whether mosquitoes breed in it or not we check this in our laboratories we now believe that mosquito breeding does happen dr dual's research not only explodes the myth that mosquitoes can't breed in ganga jal it's also the first clue to a terrible crisis which threatens the river today as it continues its course through the land there's a growing contradiction between the religious view of the river's purity and the actual physical state of its waters as night falls on haridwar pilgrims congregate for the evening prayer ceremony called ganga arti meaning river worship this is a powerful celebration of the life-giving qualities which the ganges carries forth from here to fertilize the land but the beauty of the ritual belies a terrible irony for while haridwar is where the ganges matures into a mighty river it also marks the place where this river of life begins a bitter battle to survive the pollution and excesses of the modern world [Music] leaving the himalayas and haridwar behind the ganges enters a very different landscape these low-lying regions known as the gangetic plains are some of the most productive and densely populated in asia [Music] the land owes its fertility to the ganges as the silt carried in the river's flow creates a rich soil in which crops flourish producing nearly half of all the country's wheat and rice these floodplains are the bread basket of india [Music] it's no wonder that the ganges is revered as the river of creation and abundance [Music] it's the river's natural fertility that supports the region's exceptionally high birth rates which are said to propel india's population to around one and a half billion people by 2030 [Music] by then india will have overtaken china as the world's most populous country [Music] but the population growth which the ganges has helped create is now threatening its very existence because urban development is poisoning the river and the people who depend upon it [Music] located in the middle of the gangetic plains kanpur is the first mega city on the ganges it's home to over 4 million people and a booming leather industry the rich farmlands all around kampoo have the highest concentration of livestock in india making this the perfect place for leather production [Music] kanpur's tanneries specialize in processing hides into heavy leather in an industry which yields 375 million dollars a year but poor planning means there's no effective system for dealing with the massive amounts of industrial waste produced for those who work and live here the sulfurous gases pouring from the factories are a serious health risk rates of respiratory disease in this town are extraordinarily high [Music] for the river the effects are just as deadly most of the byproducts from the tanning industry end up in the ganges [Music] though it is mandatory that tanneries have their own effluent treatment plants at least half do not all manner of waste from animal carcasses to toxic effluents laden with carcinogenic chemicals pour through four major drains directly into the river [Music] madapool is a fishing village a few kilometers downstream of kanpur's leather industry the residents here depend directly on the river for subsistence fishing used to provide this community with a good living as kishan pal kashiad recalls we used to watch our elders hunting for fish here and they had to carry their catch in buffalo carts such big fish long ones weighing about 20 kilos people couldn't even lift them sometimes then as we grew up the amount of fish gradually decreased some fish don't even come here anymore because of the bad water that flows from kanpur sometimes dead fish pile up on the riverbank and the ganges stinks to most fish the pollution in this water proves deadly among the few species hardly enough to survive is the local rural fish but when caught their flesh is so laden with toxins it is practically inedible sometimes we think fine we don't have anything else to eat so we'll just cook this but sometimes it turns out to be bad and makes the children sick [Music] the people of madapol know only too well how pollution is poisoning the river but they can't escape its deadly effects they depend on these waters for their survival when we're out fishing we only have this water to drink but when you raise your hand it smells foul and there's animal fat flowing in there your hands are sticky from the water and it's so disgusting god knows what they discharge into the river it's not fit for drinking when you raise your hand like this you can see animal fat floating in the water today the river is so polluted that it's impossible to make a living from fishing anymore to survive people like kishan have tried farming instead [Music] but even the land is poisoned by the river water used to irrigate the crops we want to use the sand to grow cucumbers melons and vegetables but when you plant seeds in the soil they don't germinate even if they do germinate when the plant becomes so big it dies yes that's it for [Music] the future looks increasingly grim as kanpur's industrial development continues [Music] commercial growth attracts tens of thousands of new residents to the city every year but this mass migration simply makes the problem worse for the population of camphor produce their own waste around 360 million liters of sewage per day poor planning means the city's treatment plants struggle to cope and vast amounts of raw sewage and deliberately discharged into the ganges the river has become a deadly threat to the people who depend on it nowhere is the problem more acute than at the holy ghats where the local people attend their daily bathing rituals [Music] even here the ganges is considered to be holy and washing in its waters is supposed to rid the body of pollution these days the opposite outcome is more likely [Music] at the city's hospital the true extent of kanpur's pollution problem is made shockingly clear some 300 people a day come here seeking treatment for respiratory diseases caused by air pollution the number of people suffering from waterborne diseases like cholera diarrhea and hepatitis is even greater women and children are especially vulnerable dr kieran pandy is an obstetrician who has first-hand experience of the deadly effects of pollution on people's health water polluted if the water is polluted and people are drinking it then the pollution is entering their bodies worm infestations are water-borne diarrhea is solely a water infection viral fever also originates in water it's not only the organisms in the water which are dangerous so two other chemicals though the local drinking supply is treated before reaching the pumps tests show that this water still has high levels of carcinogenic chromium the untreated water being used to irrigate the crops is extremely contaminated containing 64 times more arsenic and 120 times more mercury than recommended levels these chemicals can not only cause cancer they also destroy the nutrient content of the food add water means a bad diet for these women almost half of all the patients we see have anemia for example a normal hemoglobin level would be between 11 and 13. now in india and in this area we have problems of malnutrition so we often get patients with hemoglobin levels of one to three milligrams and because of this the child's growth is affected it could also lead to premature delivery and underweight babies and even sometimes death there's no doubt that the polluted river is to blame for much of the death and disease suffered by the people of kanpur [Music] but they can't afford to protest too much the wealth generated by the tanneries drives the local economy for many residents a dirty ganges is a regrettable but necessary price to pay [Music] downstream however there are cities for whom pilgrimage is crucial to the local economy here a poison ganges presents a massive problem [Music] the city of allahabad sits at one of the most sacred river confluences in india this is where the holy ganges meets the earthly yamana and the mythical saraswati river hindu mythology says that gods and demons fought a war here over the nectar of immortality spilling some at the river's confluence during the kung mela festival pilgrims gather to venerate the place where the nectar fell in one of the most important events in the religious calendar [Music] in the course of this 45-day festival allahabad is transformed as some 70 million faithful descend upon it in what is perhaps the largest gathering of humans ever the most important event of all is the royal bath when pilgrims rushed to the water's edge to perform a unique cleansing ritual for mother ganga [Music] according to legend when the goddess agreed to liberate mankind from its sins she asked who would purify her afterwards it was deemed to be the sadhus who during the kumela would bathe in the water absorbing the river's sins and purifying her again and again [Applause] being first to the river to cleanse the goddess is a much sought-after right and has been the cause of stampedes in the past [Music] but in 2007 things took a very different turn as the most committed holy men boycotted the festival [Music] disgusted by the pollution and islands of rubbish floating in the river they refused to bathe until the authorities cleaned up the waters some even threatened mass suicide [Music] these protests marked a critical junction in the rivers story even the sadhus felt they could no longer ignore the contradiction between their religious beliefs and the physical state of the waters shocked by the swell of public opinion the authorities opened an upstream dam to flush pollution away from the main gas it worked the sadhus were appeased and the festival went ahead [Music] but in the minds of the public a new truth had been established that the ganges though holy is now less than pure it's becoming clear that drastic long-term action is needed to prevent this river of life from becoming the river of death [Music] 125 kilometers downstream from allahabad the ganges reaches the city of varanasi at this holiest of sites the river is facing its most dire crisis [Music] varanasi is said to be the spiritual home of all 330 million hindu gods and goddesses it's also the only place on its entire course where the river runs northward in the direction of its source legend has it that the ganges fell so in love with varanasi she nearly gave up on her seaward journey to stay in the city [Music] this is the most important pilgrimage site in india [Music] hindus believe that those who are cremated and have their ashes thrown to the ganges at varanasi will receive eternal salvation for this reason sikh people make a desperate pilgrimage from all around the country to spend their last days in this city living in the most primitive conditions these women have chosen to leave their families behind and face death alone surendra pasayad attends to the island dying on the riverbanks the kids so people come here to find god in return for a small payment surendra makes sure that these women receive food and medicines for their pains gives me more spiritual fulfillment than the act of just praying that's why i do this work not only does surendra care for the sick he looks after the dead too when these women die surendra will fulfill their final wish by making sure that their bodies are ritually burned on the riverbank [Music] the main cremation business is based here at the manikinika gat the holiest of all places in this city of holies working in this death factory is a dirty and dangerous job those who keep the fires burning day and night belong to the social group or caste known as the untouchables in traditional indian society untouchables are recognized as having the lowest status of all the castes but at manukanika they command huge respect for rich or poor high or low caste the deceased and their families depend on these workers to carry out a proper hindu funeral [Music] package deals are available even for the dead all the wood incense and manpower needed for a full cremation can be bought for some 950 rupees that's about 20 dollars once the price is agreed the death servants go to work firewood is weighed for the pyre onto which the body will be placed [Music] the corpse is lit from an eternal flame which is supposed to have been burning since the dawn of time meanwhile the chief mourner usually the elder son has his head shaved as a symbol of his grief [Music] after the ritual preparation the mourner takes the twigs of holy kusher grass from the eternal fire to set the pyre alight [Music] the corpse burns and the fire conveys the deceased to heaven to the wider world the public nature of this ceremony may seem macabre [Music] but for hindus it is only right that this celebratory ritual should happen in the open [Music] few tears are shed as the mourners watch the souls of their dead ascending to the afterlife [Music] you can attain all forms of happiness here there's no greater pleasure than salvation so varanasi isn't a sad place after the cremation the ashes are thrown to the river and the mourners walk away without looking back the funeral workers in the meantime rifle through the charcoal in search of gold teeth and other precious remnants [Music] but it's not only people's ashes that are thrown to the river pregnant women and dead babies are considered devoid of sin they don't need to be cleansed by cremation and their bodies are floated directly on the water [Music] at varanasi corpses wrapped in ornate shrouds are often seen floating along [Music] the beach opposite the city is also littered with human remains yet still every morning hindus gather to bathe driven by an unshakable belief in the river's purity one of them is dr bhadra mishra dr mishra was only 14 when he became the seventh priest in his family a position passed down from father to son he's also a professor of hydraulic engineering and is fully aware of the pollution which plagues the river yet for him bathing in these waters is not a matter of choice but a matter of faith the religious texts say that visiting the goddess touching washing drinking her cleanses our sins i will not break from tradition but i also just can't believe that there is no pollution entering the ganges there certainly is so in my case there's a rationally trained mind as well as a committed heart dr mishra believes it is the authorities not the pilgrims who are to blame for most of the pollution on the ganges obviously saying that it's only the pilgrims that are making the river impure and dirty this belief should come to an end the ganges is being harmed by those people who are overseeing the functioning of the cities and the factories and those who are dumping the effluence of the many factories into the river which we refer to as point sources of pollution is caused by point sources of pollution frustrated by the authorities indifference dr mishra began his own ganges cleanup campaign and established a research laboratory to monitor pollution levels today krupam dube works at the lab testing samples of river water for a bacterium called fecal coliform which is present in human sewage if it's ingested this organism can cause deadly illnesses such as typhoid and hepatitis the amount of fecal coliform present in the water is a prime indicator of the health hazard which it poses the test results at varanasi are shocking for drinking water the fecal coliform content should be 500 or less that's the permissible limit [Music] our samples are taken five meters from the riverbank because that's the furthest point from the bank that people are able to bathe they also drink the water from there and the fecal coliform count is found to be between 40 000 to 80 000 the biggest reason for this is sewage today over a million litres of sewage is dumped into the ganges every second at varanasi the biggest problem is poor infrastructure with the population of more than 3 million this city suffers frequent power shortages without electricity the pumps which operate the sewage plants shut down and the back flow of waste ends up in the ganges the scale of varanasi's sewage problem means the ordinary people are powerless to change it but driven by an innate desire to help the ganges they do what they can every morning these men gather at the riverbank to clear the pollution with their bare hands garlands flowers plastic clothes we pick them all up and put them in the boat we take this rubbish to the other side of the river where the dogs and crows eat it all up they also pick up human corpses and carcasses of sacred cows often found floating in the waters but their efforts are just a drop in the ocean of course we feel there shouldn't be any pollution we try and clean up but the pollution continues how much can be cleaned there are just a few of us cleaning but god knows how many are polluting [Music] varanasi marks a crucial point in the ganges story it's here that the spiritual cycle of life and death associated with the river reaches its climax it's also where hard science is most at odds with hindu belief the evidence proves that the ganges at varanasi is anything but pure [Music] many claim that the pilgrims faith makes them blind to the problems others believed that even if people knew about the pollution they would still feel compelled to bathe or for them the ganges is the medium of life just like a fish cannot be separated from water they cannot be separated from the ganges what's more dr mishra is convinced that the people best place to purify the ganges are the very people who believe in her purity please don't say that it's unbearable what are you saying can the mother ever be dirty or polluted when you show them what's happening they say no the city's sewage and drains should not be emptied into the river this must stop if this love and respect for the river can be harnessed it can become a great power which can help us in so many ways if the power of love can truly save this river then there is hope yet for no river on earth is as loved by its people as the ganges [Music] perhaps four 000 years of faith in the purity of these waters will undo the last 50 years of neglect [Music] but pollution is just one of the problems to be faced as the glacier which feeds the river continues to recede there is a real danger that the source of the ganges will disappear yet india needs the river today more than ever as the population boom continues the amount of water available to each person is rapidly decreasing it's estimated that by 2020 india's demand for water will exceed all sources of supply [Music] drastic change is needed to save the river and protect the future of her people how that can be done is the challenge facing india today

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 3,114,162

Keywords: TRACKS, tracks travel channel, tracks travel, Documentary movies - topic, full documentary, travel documentary, culture documentary, Rivers, Water, yangtze river, Water Power, Powersource, dangerous rivers in the world, ganges river, India, Religion

Id: pH0fhLBr-Mg

Length: 51min 41sec (3101 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021