India, Jan. 24 -- An ecological crisis is unfolding at one of Maharashtra's largest and most critical reservoirs, the Ujani dam, as per ongoing scientific research by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). Recent field surveys and water sampling carried out by BNHS scientists indicate that the water quality here has deteriorated to dangerously poor levels due to sustained inflow of untreated sewage and chemical effluents through the Bhima river.

Ujani - a manmade wetland of national importance and a designated important bird area (IBA) supporting the central Asian flyway - now has thick, foul-smelling green scum covering large swathes of the reservoir, signalling eutrophication, oxygen depletion and toxic conditions that threaten bio...