A toxic foam covers a sacred river in India as Hindu devotees bathe in its waters

(CNN) – A layer of toxic foam covered parts of a sacred river near the capital of India as people gathered on its banks to celebrate a religious festival and some Hindu devotees bathed in the waters.

The white foam, a mixture of sewage and industrial waste, formed over the past week in stretches of the Yamuna River – a tributary of the holy Ganges River – which flows some 1,376 kilometers south of the Himalayas through several states.

The stinging foam contains high levels of ammonia and phosphates, which can cause respiratory and skin problems, according to experts. Their arrival coincided with Chhath Puja, a festival dedicated to the sun god, Surya. Earlier this week, some Hindus were seen wading through the toxic foam to bathe and pray in the river.

Devout Gunjan Devi said Tuesday that she had no choice but to bathe in the polluted waters.

“The water is very dirty, but we don’t have many options,” he said, according to Reuters. “It is a ritual to bathe in a body of water, so we have come here to bathe.”

According to the Press Trust of India, the government has deployed 15 boats to remove the foam, but experts fear it has already caused significant damage.

“The Delhi stretch is that of an ecologically dead river,” said Bhim Singh Rawat of the South Asian Network on Dams, Rivers and Villages (SANDRP). “It has no fish or freshwater birds. It has been that way for years.”

Toxic foams floating in the water of the Yamuna on November 8, 2021 in New Delhi, India.

Polluted rivers in India

For decades some stretches of the Yamuna have been plagued with toxic chemical dumps and raw sewage. In several sections, the river appears dark and muddy, while plastic waste covers its banks.

The river is most polluted in the areas around Delhi, due to the city’s dense population and high levels of waste. Only 2% of the river’s length flows through the capital, but Delhi contributes about 76% of the river’s total pollution load, according to a government monitoring committee.

Devotees bathe on the eve of Chhatt Pooja in the toxic foam of the Yamuna River on November 9, 2021 in New Delhi, India.

SANDRP’s Rawat said the polluted river is affecting the inhabitants of several cities downstream, such as Faridabad, Noida and Agra. “Thousands of villagers use the river for irrigation, take buckets to the river to bathe and drink,” he said.

In 2017, a similar-looking foam appeared on Lake Varthur in the southern city of Bangalore. Strong gusts of wind blew the sparkling chemical cocktail onto the roads.

That same year, a lake in Bangalore was covered in flames, which, according to experts, was due to traces of oil in the water.

With information from Reuters.