Drying of the Ganges River

• The Ganges River is one of the most sacred rivers in all of India and provides more then 500 million people with drinking water.
• Along its 1568 miles of coastline, there are over 100 cities and countless villages
• It is fed during the summer months by the glacier melt from the Gangotri glacier (70%)
• This glacier is melting at the rate of 40yds per year, which is twice as fast as it was two decades ago
• As temperatures rise, the glaciers that feed the Ganges could disappear by 2030, causing a water shortage for the people in India
• The main cause for this increase in melt rate is global warming
• One way to combat this is to decrease the amount of greenhouse gasses being released into the air by industrialized nations.
• If the glacier was to completely melt, the Ganges would turn into a seasonal river, mostly controlled by seasonal monsoon rains
• Another social issue with the drying of the Ganges is that it is the center of the Hindu religion and thousands of pilgrims bathe in the river every day.

Works Cited

A Sacred River Endangered by Global Warming. (2007, June 17). Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061600461.html.