Ganges and Brahmaputra River System: Need for a Multi-Country Plan for Cleaning, Mitigation, Restoration and Protection

Abstract

The Ganges and Brahmaputra River system is in the plains of the northern Indian subcontinent. The river is a wide sluggish stream flowing through densely populated and fertile agricultural regions of the world. The Ganges is known as the Hinduism holy river. In Bangladesh, the Brahmaputra is joined by the Teesta River. The western branch of the Brahmaputra confluences with the Ganges and contains most of the river flow. The eastern branch joins the Meghna River near Dhaka. The basin covers parts of four countries including India, Nepal, China, and Bangladesh. Of greater concern, however, has been the degradation in quality of the river water itself. The primary objective of this research is to encourage the development of a multi-country clean-up, mitigation, and protection plan for the Ganges-Brahmaputra rivers. This article constitutes a real tool for the restoration, enhancement and protection of the Ganges-Brahmaputra River system and its environment. The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers are known for stream bank erosion, shifting channels, and sandbars that continually emerge in their course. The Ganges and Brahmaputra watershed is home to hundreds of millions of people, with the result that the river’s water over much of its course is highly polluted. Arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh continues to be the largest case of human poisoning in history. Catastrophic floods have prompted the World Bank to prepare a long-term flood-control plan for the region. Scores of cities and towns contribute to treated sewage into the river and its main tributaries, and dozens of manufacturing facilities contribute industrial waste. Also contributing to high pollution levels are agricultural runoff, the remnants of partially burned or unburned bodies from funeral pyres, and animal carcasses. High levels of disease-causing bacteria, as well as such toxic substances as chromium, cadmium, and arsenic, have been found in the Ganges and Brahmaputra. External research and funding of adsorptive media systems to help mitigate the high arsenic levels in drinking water (river and groundwater) is needed. The Ganges-Brahmaputra River system is of colossal importance to its entire environment. Restoration and protection measures must be adopted appropriately and at the scale of the concerned countries.