BDA: low water, but Bellandur Lake not drying up

Days after residents raised an alarm over the drying up of Bellandur Lake, BDA officials inspected the waterbody and clarified the lakebed hadn’t dried up.

The water level had reduced at some places in the past few days as sluice gates were opened and a lot of water had drained out of the lake, they claimed. “There has been a prolonged dry spell over the past few weeks as we had left the sluice gates open for some reasons. We have closed the sluice gates downstream. Now that the water has filled up till the waste weir level, we may not see dry patches in the lake bed,” said B A Shivananda, engineering officer, BDA.

Residents alerted the BDA on October 28 shortly after finding some dry patches in the lakebed. “The lake may be encroached on if more of the lakebed shows up. BDA says the drying up is a result of sluice gates being left open for some days, but we are not aware of it,” said Sonali Singh, of Bellandur.

Lake experts attributed the reduced water to the diversion of treated water to Kolar under the KC Valley project. “Huge amounts of silt is deposited on the lakebed and the lake cannot hold water now. The treated water being diverted to Kolar could be behind the reduced water level. Reduced sewage inflow to the lake is another reason,” said a lake expert, preferring anonymity.

The BDA has submitted an action plan to the NGT about desilting Bellandur Lake, its commissioner Rakesh Singh said. But residents want desilting to start on one side of the lake soon so the lake doesn’t dry up.