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- A new study titled ‘Assessment of Water Quality and Sediment to Understand Special Properties of River Ganga,’ has noted that Ganga River water significantly higher proportion of organisms with antibacterial properties. The study was commissioned by the Union Water Resources Ministry.
- Under the study, five pathogenic species of bacteria viz. Escherichia, Enterobacter, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio were selected and isolated from the Ganga, Yamuna and the Narmada. Their numbers were then compared with the bacteriophages present in the river water. bacteriophages are a kind of virus that kill bacteria and are frequently found in proximity to bacteria.
- The study has found that River Ganga particularly in its upper Himalayan stretches has more bacteriophages than other rivers. Samples drawn from the Ganga contained almost 1,100 kinds of bacteriophage.
