Ganges River Fact File
Countries: India and Bangladesh
Length: 2520 km (1560 miles)
Source: Uttarakhand, India
Mouth: Ganges Delta, Bay of Bengal
Other River Ganges Facts
- The Ganges river basin has the highest population of any river basin in the world. It contains over 400 million people.
- The Ganges River is sacred to Hindus. The river is worshipped by Hindus as the goddess Ganga, and all along its course Hindus bathe in its waters.
- The river is heavily polluted with human and industrial waste. This threatens the lives of not only humans (who use the river as their source of drinking water) but fish and other animals.
- The Ganges is home to over 100 different species of fish and more than 50 different types of amphibian.
- The Ganges basin has very fertile soils and its water is used to irrigate fields growing: rice, sugarcane, oil seeds, lentils, wheat and potatoes.
- The Ganges shark, once common in the waters of the Ganges River, is now endangered. The same is true of the Ganges river dolphin.
- In some places, particularly around the city of Varanasi, the Ganges is much shallower than it one was. Many have suggested that climate chance has contributed to this.
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