Hussainsagar was choked on September 29
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Hussainsagar suffered a condition called hypoxia on September 29! Sources said that analysis of samples drawn from the lake by the State Pollution Control Board to study the effect of immersing Ganesh idols in the lake on September 29 revealed that the dissolved oxygen (DO) count (the amount of oxygen dissolved in a water body) was less than 1 mg/litre.
It should ideally be more than 10mg/litre to sustain marine life, but the Hussainsagar has always had much less, around 4 mg/litre.
The final report may still conclude, as it has done in the past, that there is ‘no increase or change in pollution levels after Ganesh idol immersions’, for the simple reason that the subsequent rains have increased the DO levels again. Further, the rains and the run off result in dilution of heavy metals. The influx of water from various sources into the lake every day could also give a misleading picture.
“What happened on September 29 can be termed as environmental hypoxia,” a PCB official told Deccan Chronicle. Officially, there is one more day for taking and analysing water samples.
“Both Plaster of Paris and the heavy metals present in shiny paints adorning Ganesh idols lead to pollution. The irony is that no matter which way these idols go, and how long it takes to retrieve them from lakes, they will end up accumulating and magnifying in the ecosystem and will slowly find their way into our bodies,” said an official.
He said whether the heavy metals stay in the water or along with the PoP go to municipal dumpyards, they finally enter the ground or surface water.
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