The Ganges River Is Drying Up Faster Than Ever

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Canals that used to irrigate fields for weeks longer a generation ago now dry up early. Even some wells that protected families for decades are yielding little more than a trickle.

Global climate models have failed to predict the severity of this drying, pointing to something deeply unsettling: human and environmental pressures are combining in ways we don't yet understand.

Water has been diverted into irrigation canals, groundwater has been pumped for agriculture, and industries have proliferated along the river's banks. More than a thousand dams and barrages have radically altered the river itself. And as the world warms, the monsoon, which feeds the Ganges, has grown increasingly erratic.

The result is a river system increasingly unable to replenish itself.

Melting glaciers, vanishing rivers

At the river's source high in the Himalayas, the Gangotri glacier has retreated nearly a kilometer in just two decades. The pattern is repeating across the world's largest mountain range, as rising temperatures are melting glaciers faster than ever.

Initially, this brings sudden floods from glacial lakes . In the long run, it means far less water flowing downstream during the dry season.

These glaciers are often termed the“water towers of Asia.” But as those towers shrink, the summer flow of water in the Ganges and its tributaries is dwindling too.

The reckless extraction of groundwater is aggravating the situation. The Ganges-Brahmaputra basin is one of the most rapidly depleting aquifers in the world, with water levels falling by 15–20 millimeters each year . Much of this groundwater is already contaminated with arsenic and fluoride, threatening both human health and agriculture .

The role of human engineering cannot be ignored either. Projects like the Farakka Barrage in India have reduced dry-season flows into Bangladesh, making the land saltier and threatening the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. Decisions to prioritize short-term economic gains have undermined the river's ecological health.

India's farmland is fed by a vast network of irrigation canals, like this one near the source of the Ganges. PradeepGaurs / shutterstock

Across northern Bangladesh and West Bengal, smaller rivers are already drying up in the summer, leaving communities without water for crops or livestock.

The disappearance of these smaller tributaries is a harbinger of what may happen on a larger scale if the Ganges itself continues its downward spiral. If nothing changes, experts warn that millions of people across the basin could face severe food shortages within the next few decades.

Saving the Ganges

The need for urgent, coordinated action cannot be overstated. Piecemeal solutions will not be enough. It's time for a comprehensive rethinking of how the river is managed.