How do you research a God?

Prof. Dr. Andreas Fath from Furtwangen University (HFU) is internationally renowned for his spectacular projects combining extreme sports and science. Fath has already swum thousands of kilometres, crossing entire rivers such as the Rhine, the Tennessee River, the Danube and the Elbe. He has now completed a very special new project in India − with “Blue Source India,” Fath has now explored the Ganges.

It's actually the same as always − a highly motivated professor, a team of students and employees from his non-profit organisation H2Org, and a river − this time over 2,600 kilometres long. And yet everything was different in India. Unlike in his other research projects, Professor Fath was unable to swim from the source to the mouth of the river and collect water samples along the way. The Ganges is a sacred river and is worshipped as a deity. At the same time, it is one of the dirtiest rivers on earth. This discrepancy made the research project a unique challenge.

A few days ago, Fath returned to Germany with his team, and the very first sentence he used to describe this research trip was, “It was completely crazy.” Experiencing this river, feeling the role it plays in the lives of 1.5 billion people. Understanding how a river can be a lifeline, a religious symbol and a danger, all at the same time − the professor is bubbling over with impressions. He talks about swimming in a section of the river in Varanasi where the bodies of the deceased are cremated on the banks. About the thousands upon thousands of people who wash themselves in the river every day as part of religious rituals. About the prayers he recited every time he took a water sample from the holy river. He talks about clean-ups with his team along the riverbank, which volunteers spontaneously joined. And about a big misunderstanding, “The population believes that the Ganges washes away souls. And that's why they have the utmost confidence that their deity can also cope with plastic and pollution, simply carrying everything away,” reports Fath.

The professor held talks with partner schools, companies, scientists, organisations, and even the guru of an ashram, a spiritual centre. In between, he kept returning to the river and into the water. In addition to poisonous vipers − which Fath fortunately only saw from land − there is also enormous bacterial pollution alongside the microplastics. "I had agar plates with me; we ‘incubated’ the swabs on the hot water boiler in our accommodation – and after three days there was far more on them than in all the other rivers combined," says Fath.

A chance encounter with two school classes at breakfast in a restaurant turned into an impromptu classroom, an educational session on water conservation, which was received with wide eyes and deep concern. “We first had to make everyone we met understand that we humans need to help this river,” says Fath. The appreciation for his work and the receptiveness he encountered moved him, overwhelmed him, and made him very confident, reports the dedicated scientist. “The acceptance is there, now we just have to get started” – it sounds as if Fath would like to fly back immediately.

Instead, he will now first devote himself to evaluating all the water samples, continuing to promote networking from Germany, and finalising a film with his team that documents the “Blue Source India” project in all its contradictory facets. This time, the film will also be produced in English and Indian languages. Andreas Fath is just as persistent when it comes to continuous education and persuasion as he is when swimming, “Systemic change must start small,” he knows. The small bottles of holy water are intended to be the beginning of something big.