Ganges River

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600M Rely on River Facing Unprecedented Drying
600M Rely on River Facing
Unprecedented Drying
NEW STUDY
Sep 24, 2025 3:20 PM CDT

600M Rely on River Facing Unprecedented Drying

Researchers link Ganges crisis to weakened monsoon and human-caused pollution

(Newser) - Once mighty and life-giving, India's Ganges River is facing its worst crisis in over a millennium, with human activity at the heart of the problem. A new study finds the river, relied on by about 600 million people, is drying up faster than at any point in the...

'Apocalyptic' Scenes in India: Bloated Bodies in the Ganges

They are believed to be COVID-19 victims

(Newser) - India's difficulty dealing with all of its bodies may have led to this: dozens of "bloated" and "partially burnt" bodies of suspected COVID victims washed up on the banks of the Ganges. The BBC reports it confirmed the presence of the bodies near the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border,...

Fast Over Dirty Ganges Ends With Activist's Death

G.D. Agarwal began his fast in June

(Newser) - An 86-year-old Indian activist died Thursday during a hunger strike to protest pollution in the Ganges River, Reuters reports. G.D. Agarwal was more than 15 weeks into a fast that he began on June 22. He was demanding a law to protect the Ganges—India's largest waterway, sacred...

Indian Court Takes Unusual Step to Protect Ganges

Judges grant it same rights as a human

(Newser) - A court in northern India has granted the same legal rights as a human to the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, considered sacred by nearly a billion Indians, per the AP . Uttarakhand state's High Court ruled Monday that the two rivers be accorded the status of living human entities, meaning...

102 Bodies, Many Children's, Found Floating Near Ganges

Officials believe the dead were given water burials

(Newser) - Authorities are today investigating how more than 100 bodies, many of them children, ended up floating in an offshoot of the Ganges River in northern India. Officials do not suspect a crime: Instead, they believe the dead were given water burials. The 102 bodies found floating near the village of...

Stampede Kills 10 at 'Largest Gathering in History'

Massive gathering attracts up to 30M devotees to bathe

(Newser) - At least 10 people were killed and a dozen more injured today after a stampede broke out at a train station in the northern Indian town where millions of devout Hindus gathered for a religious festival dubbed the "largest human gathering in history." As many as 20 people...

Indian Woman Killed in Eclipse Stampede

(Newser) - A woman was killed early today in a stampede at the Ganges River where thousands of devout Hindus gathered to witness a total eclipse of the sun, AP reports. Millions poured outside to see the longest eclipse of the 21st Century. But many in the superstitious nation fearfully huddled indoors...

World's Rivers Running Low: Study

(Newser) - The world’s rivers are drying up as climate change worsens and the demand for water increases, the BBC reports. Researchers studying 925 major waterways—from the Ganges to the Colorado—found significantly less fresh water flowing into oceans in 2004 than 50 years earlier. If the trend continues, the...

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