Chapter 10
Ecosystem Responses to Pollution
in the Ganga River: Key Issues to Address
River Management
Deepa Jaiswal, Usha Pandey, and Jitendra Pandey
10.1 Introduction
During the recent few decades, the anthropogenic activities have dramatically altered
the water quality of the Ganga River and its tributaries. Point and nonpoint sourcedriven inputs contain a variety of organic and inorganic substances including
nutrients, dissolved and particulate organic carbon, and metal toxicants. Nutrient
enrichment enhances productivity (autochthonous carbon), and this together with
atmospheric, terrigenous, and anthropogenic carbon (allochthonous carbon) input
causes C eutrophication (Pandey et al. 2014a). The coupled effects of eutrophy and
metal pollution are expected to cause long-term consequences, higher in the order of
magnitude than could be predicted from short-term, small-scale studies. Despite this,
most of the studies conducted on the river Ganges focus generally on eutrophication
and some on metal pollution. Accordingly, most of the water treatment technologies
consider removal of biological oxygen demand (BOD), i.e., removal of carbon load
only. However, recent studies show that eutrophication and metal pollution in the
Ganga River most often occur simultaneously (Jaiswal and Pandey 2019a). For
instance, sewage-associated inputs contain large amount of carbon and nutrients
leading to eutrophication, whereas industrial effluents add quantifiable amount of
metals and other pollutants causing toxic effects.
The average population density in the Ganges basin is 712 persons/km
2 as
compared to 382 persons/km
2 for India. The river along its 2525 km course flows
through 29 megacities, 23 small cities, and 48 townships and receives massive fluxes
D. Jaiswal · J. Pandey (*)
Ganga River Ecology Research Laboratory, Environmental Science Division, Centre of
Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
U. Pandey
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mahatma Gandhi Kashividyapith
University, Varanasi, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_10
221
Ecosystem Responses to Pollution
in the Ganga River: Key Issues to Address
River Management
Deepa Jaiswal, Usha Pandey, and Jitendra Pandey
10.1 Introduction
During the recent few decades, the anthropogenic activities have dramatically altered
the water quality of the Ganga River and its tributaries. Point and nonpoint sourcedriven inputs contain a variety of organic and inorganic substances including
nutrients, dissolved and particulate organic carbon, and metal toxicants. Nutrient
enrichment enhances productivity (autochthonous carbon), and this together with
atmospheric, terrigenous, and anthropogenic carbon (allochthonous carbon) input
causes C eutrophication (Pandey et al. 2014a). The coupled effects of eutrophy and
metal pollution are expected to cause long-term consequences, higher in the order of
magnitude than could be predicted from short-term, small-scale studies. Despite this,
most of the studies conducted on the river Ganges focus generally on eutrophication
and some on metal pollution. Accordingly, most of the water treatment technologies
consider removal of biological oxygen demand (BOD), i.e., removal of carbon load
only. However, recent studies show that eutrophication and metal pollution in the
Ganga River most often occur simultaneously (Jaiswal and Pandey 2019a). For
instance, sewage-associated inputs contain large amount of carbon and nutrients
leading to eutrophication, whereas industrial effluents add quantifiable amount of
metals and other pollutants causing toxic effects.
The average population density in the Ganges basin is 712 persons/km
2 as
compared to 382 persons/km
2 for India. The river along its 2525 km course flows
through 29 megacities, 23 small cities, and 48 townships and receives massive fluxes
D. Jaiswal · J. Pandey (*)
Ganga River Ecology Research Laboratory, Environmental Science Division, Centre of
Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India
U. Pandey
Department of Botany, Faculty of Science and Technology, Mahatma Gandhi Kashividyapith
University, Varanasi, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_10
221