In large metropolises such as New Delhi, 3.6 billion tonnes of sewage alone are dumped daily – but only half of that amount is effectively treated and the rest flows down the Yamuna, making it over 100,000 times higher than limits safe for bathing, resulting in widespread waterborne illnesses such as diarrhea from drinking and bathing in the affected water.

“The Yamuna is one of the most polluted rivers in the world.”

With our trip to India, we can attest to the fact that what we saw were rivers so polluted by mankind, both human excrement and industrial pollution, that it almost seems an impossible task to clean up this country’s major rivers. Yet, there were people who spoke to us on camera who offered hope.

A study done by the Central Pollution Control Board showed that around 70 percent of the pollution in the Yamuna is human excrement.

“Every society must understand how the excreta it produces is managed. It teaches us many things about water, about waste, about technologies to clean, economics and politics: of who is subsidized to defecate in our societies. But, most importantly, it teaches us humility. We know so little about our own world. If we knew better, we would understand why we are failing to ensure our present and why we will all need to do things differently, if we want to safeguard our future.” Those statements came from Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment, a watchdog group in New Delhi.

This five foot one inch dynamo was a source of many gold nuggets of information about the health of rivers in India – specifically about the Yamuna and the Ganges. When asked about the Yamuna, without hesitation she told us, “the river is dead, it just has not been officially cremated.” Her chat on camera was not all “doom and gloom” however and she offered hope that there were a lot of young, bright minds in India who had the will and the knowledge to make a positive change in the Yamuna and the Ganges – “within our generation,” she told us hopefully.