River pollution

In your book, Our Wondrous World (Chapter 2), the Godavari tells us what pollutes it. With more people and factories coming up near its banks, waste, plastic and dirty water get into it. Sometimes the river does not smell or look clean. Yet people still use its water, and it could make them sick.

The fish, turtles and birds that live in and around the river have nowhere else to go. Slowly, they are beginning to disappear. This makes the river very sad.

There is another kind of pollution too. Farmers use fertilisers to help their crops grow. Sometimes these fertilisers get washed down into the river. They make plants and other living things in the water grow very fast, until they cover the surface like a 'green blanket'. This green blanket slowly chokes all the life under it. It becomes hard for the fish to breathe, and the water becomes unsafe for people to drink.

One important way to help is to create less waste in the first place, by using eco-friendly products.