Civic body to remove water hyacinth from Katraj lake
News — By The Desk on November 19, 2012 at 11:31 AMTimes of India : The garden and health departments of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the city fire brigade have taken up a drive to clean Katraj lake, after several fish in the lake were found dead on Friday.
More than two tonne of water hyacinth and dead fish have been removed from the lake. Water and fish samples have been sent to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for analysis. The civic body had earlier sent water samples from the lake to the PMC laboratory for examination.
More than 50 civic and other workers, using two boats, have started cleaning the lake spread over 30 acres.
At present, the lake is covered with water hyacinth. Officials from the Rajiv Gandhi zoological park suspect that water hyacinth could be the cause of death of the fish. They said that the water content in the lake was low due to poor rainfall this year. The water hyacinth and the low water content could have affected the oxygen supply to the fish. But the exact cause would be confirmed by the laboratory report, the officials said.
“It will take a few days to clear the water hyacinth from the lake. There is no threat to any visitors,” PMC and Katraj zoo officials said.
An MPCB official said that the laboratory report would be ready on Monday.
