Cleaning Up the Ganga

​Paul Seeman, a former judge at the Alameda County Superior Court, practiced law for over 20 years. During that time, Paul Seeman was involved in environmental law projects that included working with the Sankat Mochan Foundation, an agency involved in cleaning up the Ganges (Ganga) River in Benares (modern-day Varanasi), India.

Spanning 11 states, the Ganga River Basin is home to more than 600 million Indians, and although the Ganga is recognized as the holiest river in India, human and industrial waste have heavily polluted the waterway. The National Ganga River Basin Project represents a $1 billion dollar project with the goal of cleaning up this life-giving waterway.

In Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, clean-up efforts are being focused on the cities and towns that lie directly along the Ganga, where pollution is the most significant. Money is being invested in multiple waste-treatment plants and the construction of major sewerage networks that will serve the area’s growing population.                             

---