Category : Water Pollution | Location : Punjab | Posted on 2022-07-08 23:23:24
BATHINDA: Contaminated water released from the Sirhind Feeder canal’s Malukpur minor has killed the fish kept at Abohar’s kinnow farms and forced the growers to uproot their mature plants. The solid waste and heavy metal content of the discharge declined the ponds’ dissolved oxygen level.
Kinnow grower Ajay Wadhwa was stunned on Thursday to see his one-acre pond covered with dead fish.
Wadhwa said: “In almost two decades of citrus cultivation, this is the first fish disaster. You can tell it by the foul smell that the water is toxic. Our fish that can survive even in the saline water of the seas are dying in the pond, so imagine the level of contamination. We filled containers of it for analysis.” The water resources department has checked chemical composition of the canal water with Punjab Pollution Control Board.
The uprooting of plant has damaged the economy of many villages. At Dharamgwala alone, kinnow plants over 500 acres have become fruitless. The Abohar branch of the Sirhind Feeder supplies water to the orchards for drip irrigation. The fish in the polluted Kali Bein also are dying for three days. Environmentalist and MP Balbir Singh Seechewal said: “The tragedy has continued for years. The dissolved oxygen level is so low that it’s killing the aquatic life. If clean water can be stopped, why can’t the contaminated water be blocked.”
Dissolved oxygen level dipped when the clean water was stopped. Punjab Pollution Control Board member secretary Karunesh Garg said water samples will be taken from both sites and if those tested positive for contamination, there will be appropriate action.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/toxic-canal-water-kills-abohar-fish-kinnow-orchards/articleshowprint/92737675.cms
