Religion and the Environment

The badly polluted Ganges River is sacred to the Hindu faith. Priests daily and ritually touch, bathe in, and drink the water, exposing themselves to diseases (typhoid, jaundice, dysentery and polio) and a toxic chemical stew. Two Hindu holy men are demanding action, according to the TimesOnline. With followers in the millions, including prominent industrialists, they say agitation will take a "fierce turn," with mass protests and political ruin unless action is taken before the general election in May.

Taking another approach, Veer Bhadra Mishra, a retired professor of hydraulics and hereditary high priest of a Varanis temple, has secured a pilot project for his plan. Develop with experts from UC Berkeley, gravity-fed lagoons would use bacteria, algae and sunlight to clean wastewater. According to the Christian Science Monitor, he hopes the approach will be a model and replace the expensive and ineffective wastewater plants created over the last 23 years.

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