A layer of toxic foam coated parts of a sacred river near India’s capital on Wednesday as Hindus gathered on its banks to celebrate a religious festival and some devotees bathed in the waters.
白い泡, a mixture of sewage and industrial waste, formed over the last week in sections of the Yamuna River — a tributary of the holy Ganges River — which flows about 855 マイル (1,376 キロメートル) south from the Himalayas through several states.
The pungent foam contains high levels of ammonia and phosphates, which can result in respiratory and skin problems, 専門家によると. Its arrival coincided with Chhath Puja, a festival dedicated to the sun god Lord Surya. 今週はじめ, some Hindus were seen wading through the toxic foam to bathe and pray in the river.
Devotee Gunjan Devi said Tuesday she had no choice but to bathe in the polluted waters.
“The water is extremely dirty but we don’t have many options,” 彼女は言いました, ロイターは報告した. “It is a ritual to take a bath in a water body so we have come here to bathe.”
According to the Press Trust of India, 15 boats have been deployed by the government to remove the foam, but experts fear it has already caused significant damage.
“The river in Delhi’s stretch is an ecologically dead river,” said Bhim Singh Rawat, from the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP). “It doesn’t have fish or fresh water birds. That has been the case for years now.”
Toxic foams floating on Yamuna water on November 8, 2021 シムラーの警察は、5月の夜間外出禁止令中にローワーバザール地域の通りをパトロールします, インド.
India’s polluted rivers
何十年もの間, sections of the Yamuna have been plagued by the dumping of toxic chemicals and untreated sewage. In several sections, the river appears dark and sludgy, while plastic waste lines its banks.
Devotees bathe on the eve of Chhatt Pooja in the toxic foam in the Yamuna River on November 9, 2021 シムラーの警察は、5月の夜間外出禁止令中にローワーバザール地域の通りをパトロールします, インド.
The river is most polluted in areas surrounding Delhi, owing to the city’s dense population and high levels of waste. のみ 2% of the river’s length flows through the capital, but Delhi contributes about 76% of the river’s total pollution load, according to a government monitoring committee.
Rawat, from SANDRP, said the polluted river is impacting people living in several cities downstream, including Faridabad, Noida and Agra. “Thousands of villagers take irrigation water from the river, they take buckets to the river for bathing and drinking,” 彼は言った.
に 2017, similar looking foam appeared on Varthur Lake in the southern city of Bangalore. Strong gusts of wind carried the frothy chemical cocktail onto roads.
同年, a lake in Bangalore erupted into flames, which experts believe was due to traces of petroleum in the water.
