Black Water and Cancer: How India's Polluted Rivers Are Poisoning Millions

For years, villages along the Hindon, Jojari and Yamuna rivers in India have recorded abnormally high rates of cancer and infectious disease — and locals and doctors alike point to the industrial and domestic wastewater that has been dumped, untreated, into these waterways for decades. According to India's Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Hindon river basin alone generates almost 944 million litres of sewage every day, while treatment plants can process only 712 million litres — leaving more than 220 million litres of untreated waste to flow into the river.

The village where cancer is seven times more common

In a village of 7,700 people on the banks of the 400-kilometre Hindon river in Uttar Pradesh, 1.3% of residents have been diagnosed with cancer over the past decade — a rate seven times the national average, according to the Indian Journal of Medical Research. Seventeen-year-old Divya Sihawal survived blood cancer, while her neighbour, a local farmer's wife, died of liver cancer at 40. Residents also report skin infections, jaundice, liver damage, kidney stones and chronic coughing.

A 2007 study of groundwater in the area already found traces of lead and chromium. Many households, like Divya's, aren't connected to piped water and rely on hand pumps instead. Doctors in the local Muzaffarnagar district have not been able to confirm a direct link between the polluted river and these illnesses — a blood test for heavy metals costs up to 12,000 rupees (around 2,600 CZK), and authorities simply lack the funds for large-scale testing. No long-term study exists to either prove or disprove the connection between the water and the diseases. Back in 2020, India's National Green Tribunal already declared the Hindon "practically dead."

The Hindon is far from unique: CPCB's latest assessment identified 296 polluted stretches across 271 Indian rivers, 37 of which fall into the worst category. These figures mostly reflect organic pollution and don't fully account for contamination by heavy metals.

Supreme Court steps in over the Jojari river

In Rajasthan, India's Supreme Court took up the case of the seasonal Jojari river last week. Around 50 villages and towns along a 100-kilometre stretch of the river suffer from pollution caused by chemicals from textile and metal-processing plants around the city of Jodhpur, as well as domestic sewage. Of the 230 million litres of sewage Jodhpur produces daily, local data suggests only just over half is treated.

Rakesh Devaji, a resident of Doli Rajguru village, moved to a new home a kilometre from his old one fourteen years ago specifically to escape the pollution — but over the past five years, the contaminated water has caught up with him there too. Residents of some villages now have to buy drinking water delivered by tanker, while farmers watch polluted water flood their fields and poison their wells and ponds. Tests have found nickel, chromium, copper, iron, textile dyes, as well as lead and cadmium in the water. Some reports suggest certain families send pregnant women away from the affected villages altogether.

The Supreme Court has banned construction within 100 metres of the Jojari and barred potentially hazardous industries from operating within 500 metres of the river. The court took up the case on its own initiative, under a title referencing the two million lives it says are at risk.

The sacred Ganges — and pink water in the south

Nowhere is the tension between the religious significance of rivers and their pollution more visible than on the Ganges. During the 45-day Maha Kumbh Mela festival in early 2025, held where the Ganges and Yamuna meet in Prayagraj, authorities recorded roughly 663 million visits to bathing sites. The CPCB warned that some water samples failed to meet standards due to high levels of faecal coliform bacteria, but Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told parliament that the water at the confluence was safe not only for bathing but even for ritual drinking, dismissing the criticism as an attempt to "tarnish" the festival.

The state has invested more political capital in cleaning up the Ganges than any other river — the Namami Gange programme, launched after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, has funded new sewage systems and treatment plants. For the 2026/27 financial year, the programme has been allocated 31 billion rupees (nearly 7 billion CZK).

The capital has its own problem: the Yamuna, which flows through Delhi, is often covered in visible white foam containing high levels of detergents, ammonia and microplastics. Although Delhi accounts for just about 2% of the river's more than 1,300-kilometre length, government data shows this stretch alone is responsible for 97% of all pollution in the Yamuna.

In the south, in the Tiruppur district of Tamil Nadu, pollution has taken on a strikingly different form — well water used by locals has turned pink and started smelling of chemicals. Tiruppur is one of India's largest textile hubs, accounting for roughly a third of the country's clothing exports in 2025, according to Reuters. Media reports name Primark, Tesco, Decathlon and Gap among the brands that have placed orders in the region — meaning some of the clothing dyed there ends up on store shelves in Europe and the United States.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz