Dead fishes were found floating in Nanjarayan Tank Bird Sanctuary in Uthukuli Taluk of Tiruppur district as a fallout of the current spell of heavy rainfall.
Amid apprehension among local residents that the act of industries releasing untreated effluents with water flowing into the tank could be the cause, officials explained that the death of fishes in the tanks and ponds was due to natural causes, and was not unusual during rainy season.
Since rainwater enters into the water body with rich nutrients washed down the soil gradient passing through agricultural fields, it alters the PH (measure of acidity and alkalinity) level, impacting oxygen presence in the water body, according to the officials.
Allaying apprehensions of the local residents about water contamination due to effluents in the little over 125 hectare tank, which was notified by the State Government as the 17th bird sanctuary in 2022, Ravindran, president, Nature Society of Tiruppur, said microbes from treated effluents and sewage are, in fact, essential for proliferation of the fish population.
The death of fish during the rainy season will not affect the food chain in the bird sanctuary since the deaths of fishes are confined to the points of fresh water intrusion, Mr. Ravindran explained.
