A team of Dhaka University teachers visited the Haor areas in Sunamganj Saturday to investigate the reason behind water contamination that led to death of fishes and ducks following the recent flash flood.
The team from botany department led by Professor Moniruzzaman and Associate Professor Muhammad Ajmal Hossain Bhuiyan started working around 9am.
They examined the water quality, dead fishes and rotten paddy in Hakaluki Haor. The team will send their recommendations to the authorities concerned seeking action.
On the other hand, locals – mostly sharecroppers and fishermen – are suffering from water-borne diseases due to pollution.
The most affected areas of the district are Dharmapasha, Jamalganj, Jagannathpur and Dirai.
On Friday, separate teams of Fisheries Ministry and Fisheries Research Institute of Mymensingh and Chandpur visited the Haor areas over the same issue that has raised concerns among the farmers, who have lost their half-ripen paddy in the flood.
Primarily they identified presence of ammonia gas and fall in oxygen level in the water as possible reasons behind the deaths of fishes and ducks.
Ammonia and hydrogen sulphide gas, formed due to the rotten paddy, led to the death of fishes, said local fisheries officials Sultan Mahmud and Abdus Shakur.
The normal range for pH in surface water systems is 6.5 to 8.5, and the pH range for groundwater systems is between 6 and 8.5.
The fisheries officials found the range at 5.8 in Hakaluki Haor.
The government on Thursday declared a week-long ban on fishing in the Haor areas of Sunamganj as piscine diseases spread quickly.