Save Lakes From The Sins Of Humanity

There is something very beautiful about lakes, Lakes do not just mirror their environment . They also mirror the society around them.

Clean water in a lake is either the result of an absence of humanity or the presence of very disciplined human beings who care.

India's lakes are dying. Many have already died and disappeared and many await the same fate. It's simply a matter of time. Will the policy makers wake up in time to avert this catastrophe ?

Scorching summers are here, our state & its Capital Bangalore is facing a water scarcity. The place that once had more than six hundred lakes and ponds, Ever wondered why Bangalore goes thirsty every change of season? It's because the city's lakes that replenish the underground water are dying.

But where are those missing lakes? This is the question most Bangaloreans are asking. And the existing ones are in danger of vanishing.

Globe in hand and mission in mind, Dr. Jack Vallentyne of the Canada Centre for Inland Waters was rather surprised when he visited Bangalore last year. The beautiful lakes for which this city was known, no longer remained beautiful.

Most of the lakes have vanished due to encroachment and construction activity for urban infrastructure expansion. Majestic bus stand, NGV sports complex, Kantirava Stadium, KGA golf course were all built by filling lakes. Many residential layouts like Domlur, Hbr layout ,Mathikere etc were built by encroaching on lakes.

One more beautiful lake dying slowly is the Hebbal Lake, Located in the northern Bangalore, Near Bellary Road. It was one of the three lakes founded in 1537 by Kempe Gowda.

Hebbal Lake ( Above Pictures are of Hebbal Lake ) is nearly 150 acre in area. It is a natural lake and is maintained by Sate Forest Department. This seasonal lake used to get filled during the monsoon and invariably go dry in the summer. It has a big variety of aquatic vegetation and a large number of birds live around it.

Hebbal Lake alone was home to over 70 species of water birds including 40 from the Himalayan and Central Asian regions. Due to increasing in water pollution, the variety has reduced but the numbers are fair enough to make a visit.

Few years back, In the early eighties ,specially during the summer we use to visit some of the lakes, They were such wonderful picnic spots. Can any Bangaloreans remember that Bangalore had a river ? Yes Bangalore had a small but beautiful Vrushabhavati river.

It was a lovely sight to see the children’s playing in the Vrushabhavati river. But today, Vrushabhavati is a sewage drain. the younger generation don’t believe us when we tell them about the river’s past glory.

Many lakes were lost due to encroachment by land sharks or have shrunk because of waste being dumped on their periphery.

According to a report of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), apart from industrial effluents and untreated domestic waste, effluents from unsewered areas in the City are posing grave threat to many existing lakes.

Dr. TV Ramachandra, of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, According to studies conducted by the Centre for Ecological Sciences, the most widespread problems facing lakes in Bangalore are sewage from domestic sector, effluents from industries and agricultural residues of silt and pesticides.

"Lakes have therefore become sinks for incoming contaminants that impair conditions. Failure to restore these ecosystems will result in sharply increased environmental costs later, in the extinction of species or ecosystem types, and in permanent ecological damage."

The restoration of lakes is very important, as they help control factors like humidity, temperature and recharging of underground water. Lakes in Bangalore especially have to be protected from human activities.

Decades of unplanned land use and human settlement practices in cities are the prime factors behind the gradual decline of ground and surface water.

Unless strict sanitary watershed management is practiced, no lake can survive and citizens of Bangalore have completely failed in protecting the City’s water bodies.

If Bangalore’s ground water is to be saved , its dying lakes need to be saved first.