This caused a mass hysteria among people who started coming in large numbers to drink the sea water.
In the aftermath of the incidents, local authorities feared the possibility of a severe outbreak of water-borne diseases, such as gastroenteritis.
[3] Geologists at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay offered the explanation that water turning sweet was a natural phenomenon.
Continuous rainfall over the preceding few days had caused a large pool of fresh water to accrue in an underground rock formation near the coast, the pool then discharging into the sea as a large "plume" as fractures in the rocks widened.
[4] According to Valsad District Collector D Rawal, the reason for the water in Gujarat tasting less salty than usual was that because of the monsoon, two rivers (Auranga and Banki) were overflowing into the sea in the region.