Goa’s coastal areas particularly its rivers are to a great extent facing biological pollution issues, especially e-coli , is considered to be a matter of great concern in the coastal areas a bacteria that normally lives in the intestines of people and animals. Some e-coli are pathogenic, meaning they can cause illness, either diarrhea or illness outside of the intestinal tract.”Many of the in-shore waters, where flushing is not adequate, their number (e-coli pathogens) is rising and of concern,” Dr. S.W.A. Naqvi, outgoing Director of the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), said. Adding to that He said that the pollution was largely caused due to untreated municipal waste being pumped into water-bodies.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]According to sources, a study published in 2015 by the Goa State Pollution Control Board stated that water in most of rivers in Goa, especially flowing through urban areas, was unsafe for human consumption. Reports also show that the River Mandovi is the second-most polluted river in Goa after the Sal River in south Goa, where another study conducted found traces of cadmium in oysters, a poisonous chemical commonly found in car batteries — in oysters.
“The major conclusion of the project is that the pathogen counts along the Indian coast are higher than normal, which means that this is being affected by bacterial pollution. We analyzed some samples (in the Sal river) and found that the bacterial, e-coli count in those samples was very high. Fortunately, no one consumes them (oysters) raw and you normally cook them for a long time so that takes care of the pollution,” Mr. Naqvi said.
The most important reason that has been brought to light is, increasing the discharge of toxins into the state’s main rivers. Several warnings from Scientists and pollution monitoring agencies regarding the excessive pollution in Goa’s rivers have still failed to tackle the issue of biological pollution.
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