Environment

Ganges River Loan, $1 billion For Clean Up From World Bank

by Sudha Krishna | December 2, 2009 at 05:46 pm

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The Ganges River, considered to be sacred in India is getting a $1 billion clean up loan from the World Bank.

The Ganges River (or Ganga as it also called) is 2500 km long and has incredibley high pollution, everything from industrial chemicals to raw sewage. The $1billion World Bank Ganga River Loan will support the clean up efforts launched by the Indian government.

Clean up efforts that inlcude building water treatment plants, fixing dams and other water quality improvement measures.

Environmentalists say the river supports over 400 million people, and if the unabated pollution is not controlled, it will be the end of communities living along the banks.

The Ganges or Ganga is considered holy to hundreds of millions of Hindus. Temples and pilgrimage centers like Varanasi dot the length of the river.

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Rhonda J Mangus

at 23:46 on December 2nd, 2009

Thank you for this, Sudha. Would you mind adding the tag 'religion' so this story will also appear on NowPublic Religion Special News Coverage. Thanks:)!