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The Gangotri glacier is shrinking
Published on Mon, Nov 20, 2006 at 12:09, Updated on Mon, Nov 20, 2006 at 12:26 in India section
Tags: The Ganga Is Dying, SIT , Gangotri
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Gangotri: The Gangotri glacier is shrinking - faster than ever before, faster every year.
Glaciers throughout the world are in melt mode. Considered as the thermometer of global warming, world's best known ice masses are fast disappearing. And India's very own Gangotri glacier is one of them.
Studies conducted by WWF, available exclusively with CNN-IBN reveal that the Gangotri glacier is receding at an alarming average rate of 23 meters every year.
Gangotri dham - a temple - is a pilgrim site for most Hindus in India. Devotees believe that hundreds of years ago, Ganga originated from this point, which is why the temple was built in the lap of the Himalayas. However, now things have changed.
THE GREAT MELTDOWN
*1935: The Gangotri was melting by seven meters per year
*1990: The meltdown had increased to 18 meters
*2006: Key Himalayan glaciers have shrunk by almost 21 pc
Says a devotee Baba Prayag Giri, "I have seen the holy River Ganga receeding by over 500 meters in the last 20 years."
CNN-IBN's Special Investigation Team we trekked with a team of scientists to the current source of the holy river, Gaumukh. They crossed valleys and moraines that were once covered by the Gangotri Glacier.
The snout position of the Gangotri dham is now 19 kms upstream from Gangotri, at Gaumukh.
Scientists have rung the alarm bell. With the 27km long Gangotri glacier shrinking, there is now less water downstream to dissolve the chemical wastes of over a 100 industries that pour into the river.
With less water, the density of pollutants in the Ganga keeps increasing, making multicrore projects like the Ganga Action Plan, totally ineffective.
Says Scientific Officer, Birla Institute of Technology, Dr Rajesh Kumar, "Earlier, there were no crevices on the glacier. But as more portions are
exposed to the sun, crevices will form and huge blocks of the glacier will break away."
So how does the rapid retreat of the glacier affect those who live in the plains? For one, these glaciers are a primary source of water for 30 to 50 per cent of the major rivers in the Gangetic plain.
Says Senior Coordinator, WWF Dr Prakash Rao, "The average citizen does not really understand that the drinking water he gets comes from sources like this. In the coming years, we're probably going to have a water shortage due to melting of the glaciers."
Ganga is dying from both ends - the double impact of climate change and pollution will sooner, rather than later, kill India's most sacred river.
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