The males look really good with orange colouration to their wings. The hindwing of males is 21 to 23 mm in length and the total body length ranges from 29 to 31 mm. The wings of the male are tinted with deep amber except at the tips, and have orange veins and pterostigmata. Their thorax and abdomen change colour slightly as it ages, from light brown to a more deep orange. The females are very similar to the males. they are light brown with clear wings and yellowish orange wing spots (pterostigmata), the thorax and abdomen is a yellow/brown. The females become darker brown as they age. The immature male is like the female.

This species frequents open ponds and water ponds. It tolerates polluted water well and aggregates around favourable spots where it is active all day until after sunset.

Brachythemis contaminata is a wide spread species. IUCN Red List accessed as Least Concern.