is there a real danger for ganga river being completely dried up in next 20 years or so?

Answer 1

In the Bhavishya Purana it is stated that after 5000 years the Ganga will cease to be sacred to the people as the River would lose its powers of giving salvation. If this comes to pass whether the water flow continues it will not be the Ganga.

This prediction threatens to come true in the near future.A
survey of the river revealed many startling facts. The river in its present state is a carrier of many toxic elements including chromium from leather industries. Hence many species are on the verge of extinction, in particular the Gangetic Dolphin and turtles. There exists little aquatic life at the moment due to the degraded habitat as a result of river pollution. Tannery effluent, rich in chromium content, is being presently used for irrigating agricultural fields in Kanpur.

Though there are various complaints from the farmers with respect to the damaging effects of tannery effluents on their farmlands, groundwater, cattle and personal health, they have no option. The entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic plain uses this river water for irrigation, with the river water overflowing into farmlands and grazing fields during the monsoon season each year. This has also resulted in continuing degradation of soil and fertile cropland in the plains. It is but natural that these toxic elements have entered the food chain and are causing health problems to both human and animal populations who depend on the river directly or indirectly.

The river Ganga is the lifeline of many small and big towns along its entire stretch. Almost three-fourths of Kanpur city depends on the river for drinking purposes. Therefore, the health and environment of Kanpur is directly linked to the river's health. The number of cases from water born diseases like Cholera, Jaundice, diarrhoea, hepatitis etc. is steadily on the rise and the most affected are poor people who have to drink the water without any choice and live in water-logged areas prone to innumerable diseases.

A large number of people living on the banks have direct dependence on the river waters for their livelihood such as fisherfolk, washerfolk, boatmen and the traditional cremator communities like doms and pandas, who are at the lowest social level. As a result of the pollution in the river these communities have been greatly affected. Fish are almost nil and even those that survive are not fit for human consumption as they carry toxic elements. The people no longer take boat-rides on the river due to the repulsive order and sight thus affecting the livelihood of the traditional boatmen. The washerfolk have few places to go along the banks to wash clothes and their contact with the river water is equally dangerous.

The water is already polluted and the proverbial power of regeneration is not seen. The position goes from bad to worse day by day despite efforts to clean them but the attempts are sporadic.

Unless things are done on a priority basis the Bhavishya Puran prediction may come true may not be in two decades but sooner rather than later.

Answer 2

No I don't think so, as the source of its water is the melting snow of Himalayas. I don't think that the snow on Himalayas would end so soon. Now many NGOs are also taking care of cleaning river Ganga. River Ganaga has many tributaries also, whose source again is the melting snow of Himalayas. So I strongly believe that at least in next 20 years or may be even 50 years the river Ganga would not dry up.

Answer 3

The article below will give some insight to what could happen to ganga river.

Article in TOI, the URL will disappear , hence I am posting part of the article. Some have questioned in this thread, why there was no mention in the ancient texts to the drying up of the Sarasvati. We have pointed out that such is not the case, and this article makes mention of the Panchavimsa Brahmana confirming the disappearance of the Sarasvati.
http://www.timesofindia.com/today/13edit5.htm


Saraswati: River Beyond the Myth


The sacred literature of every religion abounds in parables and semantically loaded symbolisms, usually contrived for easy comprehension of spiritual ideas by lay followers. Hindu texts are no exception to this convention. It is easy to be misled by the unyielding layers of meaning informing our age-old scriptures, accumulated over time and open to subjective interpretations. One particular problem concerns the authenticity of the river Saraswati, venerated by Hindus throughout India with the fervency of the faithful and long believed to be a product of poetic reverie. But not anymore. Scientific studies have dispelled this ambiguity and helped restore the reality behind the myth.

In 1910, G E Pilgrim published a landmark paper in which he drew attention to an alluvial deposit of great antiquity found stretching all the way from the Himalayan foothills to the Sind gulf. Pilgrims imagined the deposit to have been laid by a primitive river that he named appropriately as the Siwalik river. Geological changes brought about a vivisection of this river leading to the formation of the Gangetic system, the Indus system and its five Punjab tributaries. Pointedly, the Rig Vedic poets appear to have been aware of such a one as this, for the Saraswati of their vision is also looked upon as a gargantuan river flowing from the Himalayas to the sea. One cannot but wonder at the similar imageries.

Though the Vedas are fundamentally religious texts their contents are supposed to encrust a core of history. The number of allusions to Saraswati in the Rig Veda far outnumber those to other rivers, a fact that corroborates the all-important position assigned to her in the Vedic pantheon. For instance, in the Rig Veda she is praised as the Mother among rivers, the Goddess Saraswati - ``Ambitame Naditame Devitame Saraswati'' (RV II.41.16). Saraswati was also revered as Haraohati in the parallelly evolving culture that flourished in Iran under the stewardship of Zarathustra. The precincts of Saraswati were home to a large population belonging to an avowedly pastoral society given to religious persuasions. The Manu Samhita describes the land between Saraswati and Drishadwati, created by the gods as ``the land of brahmins'' (MS II.17-8). But before the end of the early Vedic period, the Saraswati began to ebb away from public consciousness, and in the Panchavimsa Brahmana we come across a clear reference to her disappearance. ...

Answer 4

It depends on too many things to give an accurate answer. A 'Real' danger as in a certainty, no. Is it possible, yeah sure. If people take more water out of it and it rains less, then it will slowly go dry. But to completely go dry it would take a very significant man-made diversion (drinking water, dam) and not something like global warming or natural temperature cycles.

Answer 5

yes very real ,and it wont be the only one
all rivers are diminishing
and many have disappeared already