Pollution impacts fish at Harike, Nangal wetlands: Study

Tribune News Service

Ravneet Singh

Patiala, April 19

Nutritional value of fish, an important source of food, found at the Harike wetland, also known as Harike Pattan, and Nangal wetland in the state, is directly affected due to rising pollution levels caused by discharge of industrial effluents into the water bodies says a latest study on the Harike and Nangal wetlands carried out by an assistant professor and a research scholar of Zoology and Environmental Sciences at Punjabi University, Patiala.

Water quality poor

• The study points out that pollution level at the Harike wetland is high in comparison to the Nangal wetland
• The water quality index (WQI) of Harike wetland is poor at 56.68, while that of Nangal is good (39.54) and safe for the ecosystem, it says
• The Harike wetland also has a high load of heavy metal pollution index and high metal index
• In the journal, the WQI of both wetlands and the nutritional value of liver and intestine of fish is discussed

Nutritional value hit

There is a significant decline in polyunsaturated fatty acids (that serve as a source of energy for human organs) and saturated fatty acids (that help lower risk of diseases upon consumption) among fish. — Onkar Singh Brraich, Assistant Professor

The research paper — Impact of industrial effluents on physico-chemical parameters of water and fatty acid profile of fish, Labeo rohita (Hamilton), collected from the Ramsar sites of Punjab, India — published by Assistant Professor Onkar Singh Brraich and scholar Navpreet Kaur in Springer’s Environmental Science and Research Journal discusses the water quality index (WQI) of both wetlands and the nutritional value of liver and intestine of fish found there.

The study points out that pollution level at Harike wetland is high in comparison to Nangal wetlands. The WQI of Harike wetland is poor at 56.68, while that of Nangal wetland is good (39.54) and safe for the ecosystem, it says. The Harike wetland also has a heavy load of heavy metal pollution index (HPI) and high metal index (MI) (concentration of metal).

“Discharge of unprocessed industrial effluent, agricultural run-off and domestic sewage into the Harike wetland has become a major source of pollution. This has resulted in a significant decline in polyunsaturated fatty acids (that serve as a source of energy for human organs) and saturated fatty acids (that help lower risk of diseases upon consumption) among fish at the Harike wetland. In other words, it has deteriorated the nutritional value of fish,” Brraich points out.

He says stringent legislation and guidelines should be implemented to thwart direct discharge of pollutants into natural aquatic ecosystem. Brraich said about half (48 per cent) of the fish (inedible portion), produced by the fishery industry worldwide as well as in the country, is discarded in landfills or dumped at sea as waste. “It also adds to rising pollution levels. It should rather be processed and used for its contents of bio-molecules such as lipids, protein and also to add economic value and minimise environmental pollution,” he said.

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