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Weed harvester of Clean Tec, which resembles earthmovers, removal of weeds from Bellandur Lake by two harvesters near Suncity Apartments taking place .officials decided dispose of the weeds on other end to avoid traffic congestion on Bellandur road in Bengaluru. DH Photo
The attempt to put the blame of polluting Bellandur lake on apartments has backfired.
In a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the state government has classified 319 apartments in the lake’s catchment area as ‘polluters’ although all of them let out sewage to BWSSB’s underground drainage.
By this definition, all the citizens of Bengaluru should be considered as polluters since the UGD is the default channel to ferry sewage to the treatment plants. “BWSSB is the culprit. Over the last many years, they should have set up larger centralised STPs at the exit points of the underground drains. They have miserably failed in doing this, which has meant that 480 Million Litres Daily (MLD) of sewage is flowing into the Bellandur lake from their network,” Srikanth Narasimhan, general secretary, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) told DH.
According to the report, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and BWSSB had inspected 755 apartments in the Bellandur catchment area. As many as 45 apartments were still under construction. Of the balance 709 fully built apartments, 390 had STPs and 319 had linked to the underground sewer network.
Miniscule sewage output
These 319 apartments, the report said, lets out 13.66 MLD into the UGD (which is about 2.8% of the overall sewage). Individual houses and smaller buildings, which constitute the majority of the city’s population lets out 466.34 MLD (97.2% of the overall sewage).
This, Narasimhan contended, is proof that the civic agencies have been ‘thoroughly incompetent’ and have been fully responsible for the destruction of the lakes. “To cover up their own incompetence, they have found an easy target – apartments, who as per their own report, are not polluting the lakes even one bit.”
In the wake of this finding, the apartment owners have questioned the rationale behind forcing them to install STPs retrospectively. “They (apartments) are not polluting, they cannot reduce the load on the UGD as they let out less than 3% of the overall sewage, and there are limited water re-use possibilities in older apartments,” Narasimhan said.
BAF treasurer Vikram Rai said the Federation has taken the legal route to fight what he called, were these ‘absurd rules and notifications’ passed by the government and BWSSB. “It would be so much more efficient if they were to look at the real problem and engage with experts to find real solutions. We are willing to engage with the government, provided they are willing to get on to the discussion table and listen to reason,” Rai noted.
In a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the state government has classified 319 apartments in the lake’s catchment area as ‘polluters’ although all of them let out sewage to BWSSB’s underground drainage.
By this definition, all the citizens of Bengaluru should be considered as polluters since the UGD is the default channel to ferry sewage to the treatment plants. “BWSSB is the culprit. Over the last many years, they should have set up larger centralised STPs at the exit points of the underground drains. They have miserably failed in doing this, which has meant that 480 Million Litres Daily (MLD) of sewage is flowing into the Bellandur lake from their network,” Srikanth Narasimhan, general secretary, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) told DH.
According to the report, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and BWSSB had inspected 755 apartments in the Bellandur catchment area. As many as 45 apartments were still under construction. Of the balance 709 fully built apartments, 390 had STPs and 319 had linked to the underground sewer network.
Miniscule sewage output
These 319 apartments, the report said, lets out 13.66 MLD into the UGD (which is about 2.8% of the overall sewage). Individual houses and smaller buildings, which constitute the majority of the city’s population lets out 466.34 MLD (97.2% of the overall sewage).
This, Narasimhan contended, is proof that the civic agencies have been ‘thoroughly incompetent’ and have been fully responsible for the destruction of the lakes. “To cover up their own incompetence, they have found an easy target – apartments, who as per their own report, are not polluting the lakes even one bit.”
In the wake of this finding, the apartment owners have questioned the rationale behind forcing them to install STPs retrospectively. “They (apartments) are not polluting, they cannot reduce the load on the UGD as they let out less than 3% of the overall sewage, and there are limited water re-use possibilities in older apartments,” Narasimhan said.
BAF treasurer Vikram Rai said the Federation has taken the legal route to fight what he called, were these ‘absurd rules and notifications’ passed by the government and BWSSB. “It would be so much more efficient if they were to look at the real problem and engage with experts to find real solutions. We are willing to engage with the government, provided they are willing to get on to the discussion table and listen to reason,” Rai noted.
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