Sewage chokes Durgam Cheruvu & Lotus Pond as fish turn up dead

HYDERABAD: Residents living around Lotus Pond in Jubilee Hills have been waking up to nauseating stench this past week, with hundreds of dead fish filling the water body, which was previously considered to be among the cleanest lakes of Hyderabad.
Those visiting the area for their morning walks shared that they found dead fish not only floating inside Lotus Pond, but also washed ashore.“The stench has only increased in the last few days as the dead fish have decayed. This has been happening since heavy rains that occurred a few days ago,” said Vijay Kalukuri, a local resident.
While the cause behind the death of fish is yet to be ascertained, experts suspect it is owing to depleting oxygen levels with sewage waste flowing into the water body. “Usually, this happens during the end of May. As summer gets stronger, the water levels decrease and concentration of sewage waste increases. This causes a reduction in dissolved oxygen levels,” said BV Subba Rao, technical member, reservoirs and lakes (water domain), BIS. According to him, this isn’t a new phenomenon in Hyderabad as many lakes in the past have thrown up dead fish.
In fact, less than a week ago some regulars visiting the Durgam Cheruvu noticed several dead fish floating towards the shore. One of them, Rajiv Reddy, even took to Twitter to share some photographs with a post which read: “Dead fish again in Durgam Cheruvu and the foul stench is unbearable. So many claims of cleaning the lake and nothing came of it.”
The lake is currently covered with several patches of water hyacinth indicating depletion in oxygen levels.
Not surprisingly, the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) data shows that the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels in both water bodies in February 2023 stood at 5.6 ppm (Durgam Cheruvu) and 6 ppm (Lotus Pond). These figures are way above the permissible levels. Previous year’s data shows that the BOD levels touched as high as 12 ppm in Durgam Cheruvu, in May.
Both lakes have been struggling with the problem of sewage flowing downstream, said environmentalists recommending immediate precautionary measures.
GHMC officials said they were unaware of the issue. They, however, indicated that the fish might have been dead even before the rains and that they must have been washed ashore following the rains. “Regular clean up will take place to clear the hyacinth and the solid waste soon,” the GHMC official said.