Self-purifying capacity of Dal, Nigeen lakes deteriorates

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 3

The pollution and the official apathy appear to have taken their toll on the once pristine waters of the famed Dal and Nigeen lakes of Kashmir.

The data collected by the J&K Pollution Control Board (PCB) and submitted to the J&K High Court has revealed that the self-purifying capacity of the Dal and Nigeen lakes at many spots has deteriorated as during monitoring the dissolved oxygen level in these two water bodies was found to be on the lower side, that is below the normal average.

In its previous directions, the J&K High Court had directed the Pollution Control Board (PCB) to regularly monitor the lake waters and take samples for determining the water quality. Earlier in April, The HC had directed the PCB to collect fresh samples from the Sewage Treatment Plants around the Dal Lake, including the STPs set up by the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Hotel Centaur Lake View, SKICC, and Grand Palace as the board had informed the court that the biochemical oxygen levels in the water samples collected from the Hotel Grand Palace and SKIMS, Soura, were found to be in excess of the permissible limit.

In its report before the High Court, the PCB has submitted that the water quality of the Dal and Nigeen Lake was monitored for dissolved oxygen levels up to the second fortnight of October 2016.

“Among the monitoring stations, the water quality of Dal and Nigeen Lake in respect of dissolved oxygen levels was found on a lower side near STPs of Habak, Nishat Lam and Ashai Bagh Bridge,” the PCB report said.

As explained in the report, the quantity of the dissolved oxygen level determines the self-purifying capacity of the lake water. Consequently, concentrations of dissolved oxygen level above 5mg/litre indicates good water quality and the concentrations below it indicates degraded self-purifying capacity of the lake waters.

“In the report it has been further stated that the average concentration of the dissolved oxygen level in the Dal and Nigeen Lake ranges between 4.3 to 7.0 mg/litre, which would otherwise mean that at some places the self-purifying capacity of the water bodies is not satisfactory, having concentration less than 5mg/litre,” a division bench of the High Court observed in its orders today.

Concerned as well as feeling alarmed over the revelations of the report, the High Court has now directed the Pollution Control Board to file a compliance report before December 26, 2016, specifying therein the places where the self-purifying capacity of the water bodies is less than the normal capacity.

The court in its order further expressed its displeasure over the “apathy” shown by the Lakes and Water Ways Development Authorities.