What killed the Siddapura lake fish?

What killed the Siddapura lake fish?


Workers burying the fish after cleaning the Siddapur Lake in Bangalore on Wednesday/Ajilal.
Express News Service
First Published : 31 Oct 2008 06:16:00 AM IST
Last Updated :

BANGALORE: The reason behind the sudden death of all the fish in Siddapura lake on Tuesday night is yet to be ascertained.

According to R Manjunath, fish breeding contractor of Siddapura lake, everything was normal till Tuesday evening but when he came to the lake on Wednesday all the fish were dead and floating.

“Industrial effluents and sewerage water from BEML and surrounding areas was being diverted to the lake and the fish could have died due to the water contamination,” he said.

Karnataka Pollution Control Board member secretary M S Gowdar, said that they had initially thought that the fish could have died due to lack of oxygen in the water, which is the result of the effluents and sewerage water being diverted to the lake.

But, in the morning, they checked the oxygen levels in the lake water to find it to be quite normal - that is between 5.1 per cent and 7.1 per cent.

The water has been sent to the laboratory and the cause of the death of the fish can be ascertained only after the water analysis report.

The dead fish are being removed from the lake by the Fisheries Department with the help of Manjunath.

Fisheries Department supervisor L Shivaram, said that all fingerlings that were released into the lake have died.