Dead fish: NARC clears water samples from Rawal Lake

No abnormality found in water but fish seemed to have consumed toxic chemicals.

ISLAMABAD: The National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) has declared that no abnormalities were found in water samples obtained from the Rawal Lake.

The tests were conducted after hundreds of dead fish started floating on the surface of the lake, sparking fears of contamination in the reservoir.

With hundreds of thousands of residents of Rawalpindi drawing water from the lake, officials stopped water supply fearing that it could poison the people.

When the fish first started floating to the surface of the lake dead earlier in the week, the Fisheries department summoned NARC officials to test the waters for contaminants.

A letter was written by NARC to the Islamabad Fisheries deputy director on July 11, but which surfaced on Sunday, said that a technical team from NARC’s Agriculture and Fisheries Programme had visited the lake and checked the water quality with digital meters, the DO meter and Multimeter.

“There is no issue of physical or chemical water parameters for fish culture …,” the letter read, adding, “It is concluded that there was no abnormality present in the limnological parameters of the water.”

It further observed that the fish may have died after consuming some toxic chemical since the flesh and internal organs of the fish were found to be badly damaged.

NARC, though, recommended further tests of water samples to check for any toxic elements in the water.

Islamabad deputy commissioner in a statement on Saturday had also stated that NARC found no poisonous element in the water.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2017.