In Asia,
Africa, and
both Americas,
river-cleansing
operations are
under way. But
the Ganges is
too wide, and
the trash in it
too diffuse.
In Patna, a boatman
surveys the Ganges
near a recently con-
structed expressway.
The country’s rapid
development has
fueled demand for
plastics, and its plastics
industry is now one of
the world’s largest.