A layer of toxic foam covered parts of a sacred river near the capital of India on Wednesday (10) while Hindus gathered on the banks to celebrate a religious festival and some devotees bathed in the waters.
The white foam, a mixture of sewage and industrial waste, has formed in the last week in sections of the Yamuna River – a tributary of the sacred Ganges River – which flows some 1,376 kilometers south of the Himalayas through several states.
The foam contains high levels of ammonia and phosphates, which can result in respiratory and skin problems, according to experts.
The arrival of this type of pollution coincided with Chhath Puja, a festival dedicated to the sun god Lord Surya. Earlier this week, some Hindus were seen crossing the toxic foam to bathe and pray in the river.
Devotee Devotee Gunjan Devi said on Tuesday (9) that she had no choice but to bathe in the polluted waters.
“The water is extremely dirty, but we don’t have many options,” she said, Reuters reported. “It’s a ritual to take a bath in a body of water, so we came here to take a bath.”
According to the newspaper Trust of India, 15 boats have been sent by the government to remove the foam, but experts fear it has already caused significant damage.
“The river in the Delhi section is an ecologically dead river,” said Bhim Singh Rawat of the South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP). “There are no fish or freshwater birds. This has been going on for years.”
India’s polluted rivers
For decades, sections of the Yamuna were affected by the dumping of toxic chemicals and untreated sewage.
In several sections, the river appears dark and muddy as plastic waste lines its banks.
The river is most polluted in the areas around Delhi due to the city’s dense population and high levels of garbage.
Only 2% of the river’s length runs through the capital, but Delhi contributes about 76% of the river’s total pollution load, according to a government monitoring committee.
Rawat of SANDRP said the polluted river is affecting people living in several cities, including Faridabad, Noida and Agra. “Thousands of villagers get irrigation water from the river, they take buckets to the river to bathe and drink,” he said.
In 2017, a similar-looking foam appeared on Lake Varthur in southern Bangalore city.
Strong gusts of wind carried the foamy chemical cocktail onto the roads.
In the same year, a lake in Bangalore caught fire, which experts believe is due to traces of oil in the water.
*With information from Reuters
(This text is a translation. To read the original, in English, click here)
Reference: CNN Brasil
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