Dead fish's near Narmada dam cause sulfide contamination

Contamination of Narmada water supplied for drinking owing to the decay of dead fish near Sardar Sarovar Dam has pushed the state government to take immediate action. Narmada water up to a distance of 20km from the reservoir has been contaminated by Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) gas and the water has turned blackish. State government Monday called meeting to combat the situation.

Complaints were reported on January 28 in Ghoghamba, Jambughoda and Kaalol talukas of Panchmahals district and the local staff of the water supply department immediately stopped the supply there. Although the staff did not report the incident to the state authorities, the water supply department noticed that the supply had been cut off. Upon enquiring, they found that a 'fishy' smell was emanating from the water and therefore, the supply had been stopped. Principal secretary in the water supply department, JP Gupta said, "The smell was coming because of contamination by H2S caused by decay of fish which died due to deprivation of oxygen. When it came to our notice, we immediately collected samples of water from different places across the state and the tests showed the presence of H2S."

"The minister for water supply Kunvarji Bavaliya also held a meeting on this issue today and we are taking enough measures to prevent it. The water will be distributed after treatment only. We are doing chlorination of water for that. In fact 20,000 cusec of water flows through the canal and as per the test results, contamination was almost negligible," Gupta further added. The issue was reported on January 28 and the water supply was stopped from the next day, Gupta added. The water supply was resumed immediately after one and a half days, he clarified.

The head of the chemistry department, Nisha Shah, said, "Micro-organisms in the dead fish and sulfate reducing bacteria could have caused the issue. The black precipitation because of chemical process between H2S and metallic salts could have turned the water black. H2S has an intolerable smell, so one cannot consume such water but chlorination only cannot solve this problem as the smell remains in the water permanently."

TROUBLED WATER

Narmada water up to a distance of 20km from the reservoir has been contaminated by Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) gas and the water has turned blackish. The state government on Monday called a meeting to combat the situation. The state government on Monday called a meeting to combat the situation. The issue was reported on January 28 and the water supply was stopped from the next day