Undrinkable Water And Air That's Worse Than Beijing - Welcome To Delhi [View all]

[hatrack]

Ed. - You'll need to click through for the photographs. It's worth it, though - "appalling" is really the only word that fits.

To get a glimpse of what it’s like to live in these conditions, photographer Matthieu Paley spent five days walking across Delhi. Through his photographs, we see the physical results of intense urbanization, density of cars, and the practice of burning refuse. All contribute to the thick, yellow haze over the city. Even the sacred Yamuna River isn’t exempt from severe pollution. The river is second only to the Ganges in religious significance to practicing Hindus, and for 855 miles (1,376 kilometers) it flows through India, providing water to 57 million people. Eighty percent of the pollution in the river enters along the 14-mile (22.5-kilometer) stretch that goes through Delhi. Soil erosion, waste disposal, and chemical runoff leave the waters black in some places and covered with a white film in others.

EDIT

In October 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national campaign called Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, meaning “Clean India Mission.” While it sounds well-intentioned, the announcement came one week after the announcement for a campaign called “Make In India,” which encourages international corporations to bring their manufacturing jobs to India—a goal many see as contradictory to promoting a cleaner environment.

The CSE has been critical of these campaigns, and in 2015 it released a report saying that the government’s budget revealed no strategy for moving forward with environmental policy. Deputy Director Chandra Bhushan wrote, “The bottom-line is, be it air pollution, water pollution or municipal solid waste, managing environmental degradation requires massive investments in infrastructure.”

While Delhi may have waste-treatment plants, it lacks the necessary sewer infrastructure that would carry the waste there. Paley noticed that even aboveground he often couldn't find basic infrastructure like public trash cans. “There have been times I've had garbage in my hands and I've had to carry it with me all day, because there are no bins anywhere,” he remembered.
EDIT

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160425-new-delhi-most-polluted-city-matthieu-paley/