Bhubaneswar: The sea water quality in Odisha’s Paradip is ‘poor’ and Dhamra ‘very poor’, according to a report by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) on the water quality index (WQI) at coastal regions in the country.
While Gujarat’s Veraval leads the chart in water pollution, Dhamra figured among the worst five polluted coastal stretches in the country and Pardaip coastal region was in the top 10 among 23 coastal regions in India.
Experts blamed municipal wastes (sewage) and industrial effluents disposal as the major reasons for sea water pollution in the Odisha ports.
Low oxygen quantity in the Dhamra’s water can be attributed to uncontrolled discharge of nutrients like Nitrogen and Phosporous (present in industrial effluents and agriculture run-offs) into the seawater. Low dissolved oxygen can impact marine life.
Human faecal content level was also found to be high in Paradip’s coastal water.