INVESTIGATIONS ON THE QUALITY OF GANGES WATER

Abstract

Ganges(1) is the holi river of the Hindus. Its source is usually given as the Bhagirathi which gushes from an ice cave in the Himalayas, more than two miles above the sea, to join a longer stream, the Alaknanda. The Ganges is a great commercial highway. A thousand miles from the sea steamers share its water with innumer-able native craft. The Gangetic plain is a vast maze of irrigation projects, for more people live there than in any other river valley in the world except 'Yangtze' in China. To them the Ganges is the one hope in a dreary life. Into its silt laden water from time immemorial have wedded Brahmans and out-caste beggars and kings to wash away their sins. To die upon its shores, and have his ashes strewn upon its surface is the supreme hope of the Hindu, while for those too poor to make the pilgrimage the water is widely distributed and preserved to be drunk as the hour of death approaches. It is a common belief that the quality of Ganges water do not deteriorate even after long storage. Not much published literature is how-ever available on this subject. The present study has been aimed to investigate the keeping quality of Gr.ngtswater to find out whether the Ganges water has better keeping qualities than other sources. It was also proposed to ascertain the reasons for a better keeping quality of Ganges water, if so -2- determined in preliminary experiments. There appears to be three possible reasons, viz., 1. Presence of Radio-active substances, 2. Presence of Bacteriophage, 3. Presence of Transition metals which may have a bactericidal effect resulting better keeping quality.