This is truly India's shame. Why did 87-year-old GD Agarwal die after he spent years fighting to save the Ganga? The veteran activist was fasting for 111 days, demanding that the government get serious about cleaning up the Ganga. His death shows that despite all the big promises and the big slogans, the effort to clean up the river has been a hollow promise.

Ganga, the 2600-km-long trans-boundary river of India, has witnessed "unprecedented low levels of water in several lower reaches" in the last few summer seasons. This is as per a study undertaken by a professor of IIT-Kharagpur.

From water to water - If there are humans, there will be excreta. If there is water use, there will be waste. Roughly 80 per cent of the water that reaches households in Indian cities flows out as waste.

This video shows the state of the Indian rivers and the cause of their pollution. It hopes to create awareness amongst the people about river pollution and the role they play in it. This content is the copyright of CSE - Centre for Science and Environment and has been re-created for the web by Gobar Times, a monthly environment magazine for the young adult.