On 25 December 2007 NPR – National Public Radio reported: New scientific
evidence supports the claim that water flowing in India’s Ganges river —
where millions of people bathe daily — has special self-purifying
properties, which act as a disinfectant that kills bacteria, and prevents
disease. Global Good News service views this news as a sign of rising
positivity in the field of science, documenting the growth of
life-supporting, evolutionary trends.
Millions believe that if you bathe in the water of the Ganges, then you
purify yourself.
In the fourth installment of a six-part series recorded for NPR,
independent film producer Julian Crandall Hollick investigated the claim
that the Ganges had something special in its water, which he called the
‘mysterious X factor’.
The report stated, ‘Hindus have always believed that water from India’s
Ganges River has extraordinary powers. The Indian emperor Akbar called it
the ‘water of immortality’ and always traveled with a supply. The British
East India Co. used only Ganges water on its ships during the three-month
journey back to England, because it stayed ‘sweet and fresh’.’
Hollick found a retired professor of hydrology, DS Bhargava, who has been
investigating water samples from various parts of the river. He says that
the oxygen levels in the Ganges’ are ’25 times higher than any other river
in the world’, which gives it its self-purifying quality.
Hollick also interviewed Jay Ramachandran, a Molecular biologist and
entrepreneur in Bangalore, who explained why the Ganges doesn’t spread
disease among its bathers.
The high amount of oxygen in the water helps assimilate organic materials,
and helpful bacteria destroys harmful bacteria. Large amounts of people
bathing in the river seems to stimulate the helpful bacteria to act upon
the bacteria that is harmful to humans.
The Ganges alone out of all of the world’s rivers is a self-purifying
system. # – Prahladananda Swami – 9/1/08