Highlights:
- Ganga river water cleaner now as lockdown imposed across the nation
- Fishers and other marine life is seen in the river
- Decent rainfall has aided the cleaning of water
As the hotels and industries are virtually shut following the orders of a 21 day lockdown in the country, the Ganga River which flows through Varanasi and Haridwar has seen a significant improvement in the quality of its water.
On the 24th of March, a lockdown until the 14th of April was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a measure to contain the spread of the pandemic, and since then the industries which were known to dump the waste in the Ganga river have been shut.
Now, after observations, the scientists have claimed that the quality of water in Ganga river has made a remarkable recovery as is even fit for drinking.
According to the reports from ANI, the Ghats in Haridwar have also been shut to the public and as nobody is taking dips in the water or even dumping waste in it, the water is much cleaner which can be also seen by naked eyes. Even fishes and other marine life forms have been spotted in the water.
A professor from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University) or also called as IIT (BHU) in Varanasi told the news agency that 1/10 or 10% of the pollutants in the Ganga River came from the industries, hotels nearby and some other sources. And with all these shut down, the water quality has improved by as much as 50%.
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What has aided the lockdown scenario in getting water quality better is the rainfall received in the area in the last couple of weeks which increased water level.
Additionally, these difference in water quality has not been seen in Ganga alone, even the Yamuna river has seen a significant improvement in its water quality as well as quantity. Photos of the river have been going viral on Social Media platforms where the river which was once plagued by pollution since many years now appears to be much cleaner.
Dear Indian friends, is this true that the water in #Ganga #Haridwar is so clean now? Just got these pictures on WhatsApp from India #gangariver @Uttra_News @HaridwarTour #India #coronavirus environmental impact pic.twitter.com/vdKX2DFjV1
— Rohit Prabhakar (@rohitprabhakar) April 12, 2020
Also, since there have been far fewer cars on the roads, the pollution has decreased which had also helped to control the AQI (Air Quality Index) which now shows significant improvement as well.
