Bhopal: Dead Fish In Prempura Ghat Raise Contamination Concern

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Several fish were found dead in Prempura Ghat of Upper Lake in Bhopal raising concern over the water contamination. Prempura Ghat of Upper Lake is used for immersion of idols. While the BMC administration has assured to look into the cause of the fish deaths, the MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) has said that it will send a team to examine water quality at the ghat.

BMC lake conservation Santosh Gupta said, “BMC administration will find out why the fish were dying in Prempura Ghat.”

MPPCB regional officer Brijesh Sharma said, “ The most common cause of fish death is suffocation due to lack of dissolved oxygen. Most dissolved oxygen is produced by algae and aquatic plants through photosynthesis. With increasing temperature, oxygen depletes. MPPCB will send its team to examine the water quality.”

Dissolved oxygen is the amount of oxygen dissolved in water – essential for the survival and growth of most aquatic organisms. This is a key indicator of water quality and the potential of the water body to support aquatic life and ecosystems, he added.

When an aquatic ecosystem is adversely affected, local species are wiped out and this harms local livelihoods, said an environmentalist, adding that there is a need to protect these habitats. Water pollution or water quality can be measured across an extensive range of parameters- dissolved oxygen, temperature, electrical conductivity or salinity, pH and turbidity, he elaborated.