In a first, stormwater drain spews froth; BBMP blames 'industrial effluents'

After lakes, stormwater drains have started frothing in the city.

On Wednesday, residents of Kadugodi, East Bengaluru, noticed froth in an SWD adjacent to Surakshaa Fairview Apartments. All of them agreed that this was the first such occurrence for as long as they can remember. They also fear that it could become a regular phenomenon if it's left unresolved.

BBMP officials said the froth could be due to industrial effluents or a large amount of domestic sewage entering the drain. "Frothing does not happen even if sewage from BWSSB pipelines mixes in the water. In this case, we feel that industrial effluents most likely caused frothing," said Suguna R, the BBMP's chief engineer for SWDs and lakes.

Another official working in the BBMP's SWD department pointed out that the drain in question has its main inlet from Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake and flows down into Dakshina Pinakini River. "The inlet may not be polluting the drain but there are many tertiary drains that flow into the canal," the official said and asked the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to investigate from where pollutants enter the drain.

The KSPCB, however, passed the buck to the BBMP, saying the civic body is the custodian of SWDs and should take responsibility. "I am not aware of this particular incident. I will inspect the drain and initiate the required action. We do conduct surprise inspections to check the state of SWDs. But since the BBMP is the custodian, we expect that they will report such incidents to us," said K Srinivasulu, Member Secretary, KSPCB.

The National Green Tribunal has been hearing a matter related to encroachments on Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake and sewage flowing into it. A report submitted recently to the NGT states that 9.139 acres out of 508.16 acres of the lake land have been encroached upon while another 11.05 acres were being used for public purposes.

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