India: Ahmedabad civic body monitors oxygen levels in river after thousands of fish die

Ahmedabad - Officials attribute deaths to reduced dissolved oxygen levels in the water and weather change.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is monitoring the dissolved oxygen levels in Sabarmati river after thousands of fish were found dead over the weekend. Civic officials have attributed the deaths to the reduced dissolved oxygen levels in the water and weather change including overcast skies.

“The fish are dying due to less amount of dissolved oxygen in the water,” Harpalsinh Zala, the AMC city engineer told the media.

“Whenever the weather is humid and cloudy, the surface oxygen does not get dissolved in the water. We are regularly monitoring these levels in the water and there has been no incident reported after Sunday.”

According to him, oxygen levels can also go down because of less circulation of water. “Since AMC uses water from Narmada canal, water from the Sabarmati is used only for recreational and irrigation purposes, demand for which is low now,” he said.

“Thus, the water is stagnant.”