World Water Day: A manifesto for saving city lakes

Today is World Water Day. On the occasion, DH spoke to an expert on the deteriorating state of the lakes and the looming water crisis in the city.

Setting up small and medium sewage treatment plants along the course of the waste water flow is the best solution to save our lakes rather than letting raw sewage into the Bellandur and Varthur lakes and then treating it there, says
Dr Lingaraju Yale.

Dr Yale is a former geologist and ex-director of the Karnataka State Remote Sensing and Applications Centre.

He told DH that allowing a lake to dry up and filling it with filth and waste water is how the citizens are killing the waterbodies.

“First, we need to save the lifeline — the rajakaluves that connect each lake naturally. The lakes have to be protected, too, by preventing pollution and desilting them before the rains,” explains Yale.

Yale also spoke about the depleting groundwater level and the 1,000-foot deep borewells.

“Getting water from that depth is not good. It can be toxic and harmful to health. When borewells go dry, we must ensure there are enough recharge wells — injection wells made to help replenish groundwater. We need to revive open wells as well to meet the growing water demand in the city,” the expert notes.

The best way to save water is to harvest rainwater, adds Dr Yale.

“Bengaluru is blessed with ample rainfall and citizens must make the maximum use of it.” he says.

Dr Yale has been working on reviving rivers outside Bengaluru and in other states. He is in the process of creating mini lakes in the course, which will help birds and animals in the forests. He is also working on the rejuvenation of the Arkavathy river with his team.

Students from UVCE (University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering) will be participating in the research on the project.