Life on the world's most polluted river

The river that supplies water and livelihoods to more than 500 million Indians is seriously polluted by untreated industrial wastewater, dead bodies cremated or floated rivers and practices river bathing in ceremonies. great religious association.

The strip of land between the Ganges could be seen from afar after the Indian government built the Farakka dam to divert most of the Ganges water to Calcutta. Photographer Giulio Di Sturco recorded the lives of people living along the Ganges River, the most polluted river in the world in the series of Death of a River , according to National Geographic.One of the most impressive photos is a woman walking across a river, crept along the bridge made of sandbags covered with mud and garbage, reflecting the degradation of the sacred river. .

Hindu believers along the banks of the Ganges River are prepared to bathe in the waters of the sacred river. "The Ganges River is a basic example of the indispensable conflict between people and the environment. This is a river that is intimately bound to every aspect of Indian life. This is the source of water and energy. and the livelihood of more than 500 million people living along the river, " Di Sturco said.

A woman collects mustard leaves on the field running through the oil refinery along the Ganges.Hindus all over the world have worshiped the river for centuries, rooted in the belief of the ability of Genga River to purify itself.However, the fact that river water is being contaminated by millions of liters of industrial and raw waste every day, not to mention hundreds of cremated corpses or sometimes wrapped in thin cloth and thrown into the river .

An iceberg formed from foam formed from chemical waste due to factories located along the Yamuna River, the tributary of the Ganges, discharged.This situation is gradually changing after India's supreme civil court Uttarakhand empowers people for the Ganges and its main tributary is the Yamuna River.The decision means polluting or destroying the river corresponding to the act of harming people.Although environmental activists are very supportive of the decision, the problem lies in whether decisions are enforced and to what extent.

The tent city was set up in Allahabad, India, to prepare for Kumbh Mela, the world's largest pilgrimage of Hindus, held every 12 years on the Triveni Sangam river bank, the confluence of three rivers. big, including the Ganges.

Hindu devotees bathe in the Ganges in Kumbh Mela ceremony to wash away all sins.

A stack of laundry from the hotel is located in the muddy riverside of Yamuna River.

Every year in the dry season, the Ganges water on the border of Bangladesh dries up due to the Farakka dam on the Indian border closed.

A woman walks through a small canal on the Ganges River on a junk bridge under water.

A tributary of the Ganges near Haridwar is inundated in the hot season.

The gray clouds rolled from far away along the arid tributary of the Ganges River.

Chemicals spilled from one of Kanpur's tanneries and poured into the Ganges.