The ganges

The Ganges is one of the earth’s longest and most polluted rivers. It descends from the Himalayas and flows some 25000 km across India before it runs into the Bay of Bengal.

It poses a unique dilemma for environmentalists. Every year, Hindus dump more than 45000 bodies in the Ganges, first inserting a red-hot coal into the mouth of each corpse before casting it adrift. No sane ecologist would ever dare to prevent this. Hindus believe that the Ganges can free the dying from the cycle of rebirth, so in many river cities, such as Varanasi, Calcutta and Allahabad, ashes from the cremation pyres are sprinkled into the river. Dead babies, lepers, suicides, people killed by snakebites and sages are also given a river burial. Sometimes in Varanasi the body-burners scrimp on wood for the pyre and simply toss the half-charred remains into the river, just upstream from where thousands of Hindus bathe every day.

The main pollutants, however, are not dead bodies but the waste spewed into the Ganges from hundreds of factories, tanneries, petro-chemical plants, paper mills and sugar refineries along its banks. The Ganges provides water for more than 250 million people living in the flat, hot Gangetic plains. It irrigates their crops and quenches their spiritual thirst. At its source, in the Himalayan glaciers above Gangotri, it is a fast shining-white stream. By the time it reaches Patna, the Ganges has widened to six miles and begins to divide itself into a delta before reaching the ocean. At one time there were freshwater dolphins, giant 6-metre crocodiles, turtles and more than 265 species of fish living in the Ganges. Six years ago environmentalists calculated that 1000 million litres of waste water a day were pouring into the Ganges. If left unchecked, the sacred river would die.

(Adapted from The Independent on Sunday, 9 August 1994)

7.22. Write the review of the text below.

The mississippi

The Mississippi meaning “Great River” or “Father of Waters” is one of the world’s largest rivers. Its source is in the north central part of Minnesota, where it issues as a small stream from Elk Lake. It passes through Lake Itasca and a number of others and thence has a general course toward the south until it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The entire length of the Mississippi is ca. 2,330m, while the Missouri River has a length of 2,365m before reaching the Mississippi; thus the combined length of the two rivers is close to 5,000m. The whole area drained by the Mississippi system is 1,257,000 square metres. It constitutes one of the most fertile and valuable regions in the world. At Minneapolis are the Falls of St. Antony, which furnish immense water power; and here, as elsewhere, navigation is obstructed, but in many places vast improvements have been made by canals and levels, the latter being maintained to protect portions of the valley from flooding during high water. The regions subject to overflow are situated south of St. Louis, where the river becomes a vast system of rapidly moving water and carries large quantity of sediment to the Gulf. Among the principal eastern tributaries are the Wisconsin, the Illinois, the Ohio, and the Yazoo. The western confluents include the Minnesota, the Des Moines, the Missouri, the Arkansas, and the Red rivers.

At its source the Mississippi is only a few feet wide, but at the mouth of the Ohio it is 4,470ft and at New Orleans it is 2,500ft while the maximum volume of water per second during a flood is estimated at 1,500,000ft. The sediment transported annually is sufficient to cove a square mile to the height of 250ft. In the upper course the water is clear and transparent, but it gradually grows dark with silt, which it deposits. During the past ages it has carried the land surface far into the Gulf and formed a large number of bayous and islands. The government of the US has had jetties constructed to protect the channel for the passage of vessels.

The Mississippi River and its tributaries furnish about 16,090m of navigable waters, which make possible a vast inland commerce by steamship. Numerous canals connect the various rivers and lakes near them, one of the most important being the connection of Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Among the important cities on the Mississippi River are St. Paul and Minneapolis, Davenport, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans.

(Keating, Bern. The Mighty Mississippi. National Geographic Society, 1971.)

7.23. Project Work. Choose some aspect of water which especially concerns the local community (pollution, waste, flood, drinking water). If you take the last point, you may discuss the following items:

● Is the drinking water clean?

● If the water is polluted, what is it caused by?

● How can pollution be prevented?

● What can people do locally?

● Are there rules or laws?

● What is each person’s responsibility?

● What should the government do?

UNIT 8 LAKE BAIKAL