Summary:
Varanasi: If the Ganga water had become clean in Varanasi due to a significant dip in pollution levels during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, this time the same stream has turned green due to algal bloom.
The changed colour of the stream in the past two days has come as a surprise for the local residents while also drawing the attention of environmentalists as well as scientists of the regional office of the UP Pollution Control Board.
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Varanasi: If the Ganga water had become clean in Varanasi due to a significant dip in pollution levels during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, this time the same stream has turned green due to algal bloom.
The changed colour of the stream in the past two days has come as a surprise for the local residents while also drawing the attention of environmentalists as well as scientists of the regional office of the UP Pollution Control Board.
According to environmental scientists, it might have come from some side drains or stagnant sources during rainfall and will disappear with the increase in the flow of water.
UPPCB officials also claimed that it would have come to Varanasi from upstream of the river, and now these algae are gradually disappearing with the flow of water.
“From visual observation, it appears algal blooms formed by the algae named Microcystis, which is found in stagnant water.
In Ganga it might have come from some side drains or stagnant source during rain,” said noted environment scientist and chairman of Malviya Ganga Research Centre at Banaras Hindu University Prof.
BD Tripathi.
According to him, it will disappear with increasing flow of water.