Why Should we Clean our Lakes?


Reading Time: 3 minutes

 

For dense urban centres like Bengaluru, lakes play a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance. Firstly, they help maintain a much-needed micro-ecosystem that promotes biodiversity in terms of various varieties of flora and fauna. Besides, they play a role in regulating groundwater levels by recharging groundwater. During the monsoons, they help prevent flooding. They also act as reservoirs of water during the dry months. Even without considering the sheer beauty of lakes and their immense recreational value, it is evident that lakes play an important role, especially in the urban scenario.

Historically, Bengaluru had the good fortune of being blessed with a large number of beautiful lakes and water bodies. Unfortunately, we need to refer to most of them in the past tense. Due to unplanned urbanisation, water bodies in Bengaluru reduced by 79 per cent in four decades. Today, only 17 good lakes exist as compared to 51 healthy lakes in 1985.
Unfortunately, even the existing lakes give us nothing much to rejoice about. Studies show that 90 per cent of these lakes are subject to untreated sewage and industrial effluents. In addition, they are used rampantly to dump solid wastes and building debris. Unfortunately, none of the lakes has water that is fit for drinking as per standards set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Instances of fish deaths are commonly reported in several lakes. Some of Bengaluru ’s most prominent lakes such as the Bellandur lake have become infamous for their high pollution levels, foaming and even fires.

As per a recent study of 105 lakes in the city of Bengaluru by Professor Ramachandra TV of the Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc called Wetlands: Treasures of Bangalore (Abused, Polluted, Encroached and Vanishing), only four lakes were found to be in a good condition while 25 of them were in a very bad state. They were either fully covered with macrophytes or dumped with solid or liquid wastes, and they had little or no water.

Groundwater is an important source of water for Bengaluru’s vast population. The over-exploitation of groundwater has resulted in such severe shrinking of Bengaluru ‘s water table, that it has gone from about 12 m to 91 m in the past two decades. To make matters worse, Bengaluru’s population is expected to grow at 3.5 per cent annually to reach 20.3 million by 2031. This will only further increase pressure on groundwater. That gives us another reason to save our lakes since lakes are an important source of groundwater rejuvenation.
Therefore, efforts to save Bengaluru ’s dying lakes are extremely urgent and impact the very future of our city.

 

Lake Cleaning on a War Footing
If we want to preserve our existing lakes and restore them to their original glory, lake cleaning efforts need to be undertaken on a war footing. Here are some measures that can help:

 

Holistic Effort

Any initiative to clean lakes is likely to backfire unless it takes into account the entire ecosystem. Apart from the actual lake cleaning, we need measures such as fencing of lakes to prevent further damage. We need to understand and restore linkages between different water bodies within the city. We must ensure that all sources of pollution are eliminated on a permanent basis. Besides, there should be ways to decentralize treatment of sewage and solid waste so that it does not land back into the lakes at a later point. At the same time, there is a need to document the biodiversity of the lake so that progress/ deterioration can be measured effectively.

 

Regulation

Strict government regulations play an important role in ensuring the long-term conservation of lakes and other water bodies. For instance, if land grabbing is proving to be an issue, then, regulation needs to be passed to make land grabbing a cognizable, non-bailable offence. Putting restrictions in place to ensure that lake water is not diverted for other purposes is also important.

 

Governance

For lake cleaning and maintenance to be seamless, it is important that the governing authority has the necessary statutory and financial autonomy to execute plans seamlessly and also take necessary action against polluters and other law-breakers.

 

Community Involvement

For any community project to be successful, it requires active participation from the larger community. In fact, studies show that some of the best-managed lakes in the city are those that have active community participation. Building awareness among people through educational events and through tie-ups with local schools and educational institutions can help. At the same time, involving local community bodies in the upkeep of the lakes can help create a sense of ownership and also drive better results.

 

While the current situation may seem especially dire, the good news is that it might still not be too late. Taking a well-thought out and visionary approach to urban development by accounting for the ground realities can actually help restore our lakes to a large extent. What is needed is greater awareness, a sense of responsibility, and accountability.

 

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