Floue

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Now, the Indian government has embarked on a $4 billion campaign to ensure that by 2020 no untreated municipal sewage or industrial runoff enters the 1,560-mile river.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal The water itself is, in many places, unsuitable for bathing.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal In the plan, 10.5 million gallons of sewage — 13% of the daily output from Varanasi's 1.5 million people — will be intercepted every day at the riverbank, and diverted.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Ten million liters of sewage will pass through a series of six specially-designed ponds where sunlight, gravity, bacteria and microalgae will clean the water.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Veer Bhadra Mishra, a Hindu priest and hydraulics engineer in Varanasi, first proposed such a system 14 years ago.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Ten million liters of sewage will pass through a series of six specially-designed ponds where sunlight, gravity, bacteria and microalgae will clean the water.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Hindus revere the river as "mother" and "goddess."

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Construction of the sewage-treatment facility is expected to start in the next few months.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal Mr. Pandey's verdict: "The pollution is at very, very dangerous level."

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010

Olivier Culmann/Tendance Floue for The Wall Street Journal The initiative, which is supported by the World Bank, includes the expansion of traditional treatment facilities and, for the first time in India, the introduction of innovative river-cleaning methods.

Cleaning the Holy Ganges 2010