A fish kill turns a Delhi lake into a graveyard

The recent fish kill in Sanjay Lake could be due to a combination of factors including the ongoing heat wave, high chemical load and lack of water replenishment

Sanjay Lake in eastern Delhi recently became the site of a ghastly fish kill. Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE

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27 May 2026, 12:30 pm

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Delhi’s artificial Sanjay Lake recently turned into a graveyard. Hundreds of small Gambusia or mosquitofish, along with larger tilapia- or carp-like freshwater species floated to the surface of the stagnant water, making the overall scene resemble straight out of a horror movie.

Hundreds of dead fish floated belly up on the stagnant water of the lake.Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE

Sanjay Lake is located in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri and spreads across nearly 187 acres. It is maintained by the Delhi Development Authority and is also a notified protected forest under the Delhi forest department, according to an Indian Express report.

According to environmentalists, a host of factors, including human negligence could be responsible for the fish kill.Photo: Vikas Choudhary/CSE

Environmentalists told the newspaper that the ghastly scenes at Sanjay Lake could be a result of a combination of factors: high temperatures due to the ongoing searing heatwave in the city; the high chemical load in the water body and the lack of replenishment of the lake’s water, which could have helped flush out toxins.

Delhi