Heavy metal pollution causes mass mortality of fish in a tropical estuary in the southwestern Bay of Bengal.

A massive fish mortality of the major species, viz., Mugil cephalus, Chanos chanos, and Oreochromis mossambicus, occurred on November 27, 2017 in the Adyar estuary. This catastrophe followed a spell of heavy rainfall and flash floods. A detailed study of water quality parameters (pH, water temperature, salinity, total suspended matter, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, and nutrients) and heavy metals, i.e., chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn), in the sediment and fish tissues were analyzed. Pollution indices like the enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (Igeo), contamination factor (CF), pollution load index (PLI), potential ecological risk index (PERI), and biota sediment accumulation factor (BSAF) were used to measure heavy metals. The pollution indices revealed that metals were significantly enriched in the sediments. The Igeo indicates that there was moderate contamination by Cd (2.27-3.25), whereas CF shows high contamination by Cd (7.22-9.72) and moderate contamination by Pb (2.5-3.25). The PLI (1.04-1.13) suggests that heavy metal contamination of sediments has occurred. Results showed that high concentrations of the toxic metals Pb and Cd were found in the sediment as well as in fish tissues. Length and weight of fish are significantly correlated (r2 = 0.98, p < 0.05). The study revealed that the mass fish kill was due to impulsive changes in the water quality and heavy metal pollution from untreated urban sewage discharges in this region.

Indian coastal waters: a concoction of sewage indicator bacteria! An assessment on recreational beaches.

Coastal water quality assessment is important to maintain a healthy environment for various uses including fisheries and recreation. Microbial populations are used as biological indicators of contamination to monitor water quality and are considered by the government to be one of the critical features for issuing safety guidelines. Different bacterial groups (pathogenic, vibrio and faecal) from five major recreational beaches of Chennai, India, were monitored for the assessment of coastal water quality. Faecal coliforms (FC) were high at all the beaches, with up to 4.2 × 105 CFU/mL and exceeding the normal standard limits of 100 CFU/100 mL set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India. Rainfall was found to have a role in the variability and distribution of indicator and pathogenic bacteria. The seasonal dry period witnessed elevated FC, while dilution in the wet period reduced Escherichia coli-like organisms (ECLO). High microbial counts were detected near the beach situated close to the river mouth, mainly due to discharges of untreated domestic sewage and industrial wastes. Similarly, the biological oxygen demand (BOD) was also high, 0.32 to 10.32 mg/L. Dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) ranged from 2.21 to 134.53 µmol/L and inorganic phosphate (IP) ranged from 0 to 57.53 µmol/L. These values indicated the presence of significant untreated sewage in the coastal water. This study revealed that Chennai coastal waters carry high levels of faecal and pathogenic bacteria, detrimental for recreational and other contact activities. The quantitative and qualitative analyses will be useful for modelling and prediction of coastal water quality and management of other recreational beaches in India.