H43E-1008:
Cultural Dimensions of Water Pollution
Thursday, 18 December 2014
Lakshminarayana Polaki1,2 and Venkateswara Rao Bekkam1,3, (1)Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, (2)Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hyderabad, India, (3)Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, Center for Water Resources, Hyderabad, India
Abstract:
Water (along with leaf, flower and fruit) is an important ingredient of Hindu worship. Abhishekam is the ritual pouring of water over idols. Some Shaivite temples perform Sahasra Ghatabhishekam (pouring of thousand pots of water, about 15000 L). However, the pollution caused by Abhishekam is minimal. Hindus cremate their dead and immerse the ashes in the waters of perennial rivers, the most preferred being the sacred waters of the Ganga. It has been estimated that 15,000 tonnes/year of cremation ash is immersed in the Ganga. Apart from these 140 to 250 tonnes of half burned corpses are dumped in the Ganges per year. There are 500 million people living in the catchment area of the Ganga, and that number is increasing. While there may be no objection from the public in regard to the cleansing of about 5.8 ×105 million liters of chemical wastes per year, the control of cremation ashes in the Ganga is for more difficult to achieve because of the sentiment. It is urgently necessary that pollution including cultural pollution of Ganges, is drastically reduced. The new Indian government has ambitious plans to do this, with allocation of about US$ 700 million in the current year’s budget.
