Water pollution restricts diving expeditions in Goa

Accumulation of trash and extensive water pollution has hit diving expeditions along the state’s only diving site, Grande Island, located off-port town of Vasco. The site, rich with algae and corals, is slowly getting choked with garbage churned out from sea. The problem is further compounded by silt spilled over from transportation of iron ore through barges.

“The visibility has gone down upto five metres from original eight metres. Also we encounter lot of trash which has made us explore other sites around the island,” Ajey Patil, an instructor with Dive Goa institute, told PTI. The waters surrounding islands is the place where state’s two major rivers, Mandovi and Zuari, meets. Patil said that the increasing use of these inland waterways for transporting iron ore from the sites to trans-shipper anchored mid sea has spoilt the water.