Hindus bathe in India’s Yamuna that covered with toxic foam

One of India’s most sacred rivers is covered in swathes of bright white toxic foam.

That didn’t stop thousands of Hindus wading into the Yamuna, which runs through the capital New Delhi, to celebrate a religious festival this week.

Worshippers held offerings to the sun god standing waist-deep in the river, while some bathed in the polluted waters. Children also played amid the toxic froth.

The foam is partly the result of poor management of waste from the nearby industrial hubs and New Delhi’s more than 20 million residents.

It’s caused by a high level of phosphates and surfactants in the river, combined with a low level of oxygen in the water and lower winter temperatures, Manoj Misra, the convener for the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan (Campaign of a Living Yamuna), a group which campaigns to regenerate the polluted river said.

Besides worshippers bathing in it, the river also provides more than half of New Delhi’s water.

Chhath Puja, the Hindu festival, ran from Monday to Thursday. It includes fasting and making offerings to the deity, Surya, whilst standing in water.

Some worshippers saw the hazardous waste as a test of their faith.

The annual festival draws thousands of worshippers to the river’s banks, as well as international attention to India’s pollution problem.

The country contains 35 out of the world’s 50 most polluted cities, while the air quality for Delhi tops rankings for the world’s most polluted cities, according to 2020 statistics by IQAir, a Swiss air technology company that compiles air quality data.

Winters in particular have become a time of health woes when the city is covered with a toxic haze that obscures the sky and air pollution levels reach catastrophic levels.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES