Why in the News?

A recent study by researchers from IIT Gandhinagar and the University of Arizona warns that the Ganga River is drying at a rate unseen in more than a millennium.

About Drying of the Ganga River: New Study Findings

• Overview: Reconstructed streamflow since 700 AD using tree-ring records (Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas) and hydrological models. Validated against historic droughts and famines such as the Bengal famine.

• Findings:

  • Between 1991 and 2020, multiple droughts lasted 4–7 years, the rarest in the past 1,300 years.
  • The 2004–2010 drought was the most severe in 1,300 years.
  • Post-1990s drying was 76% more intense than the worst 16th-century drought.

• Causes:

  • Weaker monsoons from Indian Ocean warming and aerosol pollution.
  • Groundwater over-extraction reducing river baseflow.
  • Land-use change disrupting natural recharge.
• Climate Models: Most fail to reproduce the drying trend, raising doubts about optimistic rainfall projections.
• Implications: Severe threats to agriculture, 600 million livelihoods, Bay of Bengal ecosystems, and the 40% GDP share of the basin. Calls for adaptive water management.

About the Ganga River:

• Length: ~2,525 km, the longest river in India.
• Origin: Gangotri Glacier in Uttarakhand at 3,892 m elevation as Bhagirathi.
• Formation: Named Ganga at Devprayag after meeting Bhagirathi and Alaknanda.
• Course: Flows through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal before entering Bangladesh as Padma and emptying into the Bay of Bengal through the Sundarbans Delta.
• Basin: Covers about 8.61 lakh sq. km, which is 26.4% of India’s area.

• Tributaries:

• • Left bank: Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandak, Burhi Gandak, Koshi, Mahananda.
  • Right bank: Yamuna, Tons, Karamnasa, Sone, Punpun, Falgu, Kiul, Chandan, Ajoy, Damodar, Rupnarayan.
• Population: Supports over 600 million people, making it the world’s most densely populated river basin.
• Cultural Importance: Sacred in Indian culture; declared National River in 2008.
• Economic Role: Central to agriculture, fisheries, and trade, contributing about 40% of India’s GDP.
• Ecological Significance: Home to snow leopard, elephants, and Ganga dolphin; includes Corbett, Dudhwa, and Sundarbans reserves.
• Conservation Efforts: Ganga Action Plan (1985) and Namami Gange Programme (2014); persistent issues of pollution, over-extraction, and climate change.

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