Horse excreta contaminating Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani’s drinking water source, shows study

A new study has found heavy water contamination due to the proximity of the horses being parked on a plateau above the drinking water source Venna Lake at Mahabaleshwar, a popular tourist hill station.

Venna Lake is a major source of drinking water for Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani. The drinking water at Venna Lake is exposed to heavy contamination from leisure activities offered to tourists – boating and horse riding, especially the horse excreta that runs down from the plateau above the lake where the horses are parked, from where the horses are taken around for tourists.

The study was by Priti Mastakar, Kakali Mukhopadhyay, Rajas Parchure and others at the Centre for Sustainable Development at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics.