How the Greater Bengaluru Authority plans to bring drained lakes back to life

Work is in progress on lakes across Bengaluru. Here is what the authorities in charge are saying

In the past two weeks, two city lakes — Nagawara and Halasuru — were drained, leaving citizens puzzled and worried.

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) stepped in to reassure them that the water had been drained as part of a comprehensive rejuvenation plan.

Metrolife brings you an update on rejuvenation efforts at lakes across the city.

Sarakki

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) completed the rejuvenation in 2023. The lake, spread across 86 acres, is now maintained by Zone Two of the South City Corporation of the GBA. Chief engineer K V Ravi from Zone Two says, “We conduct daily checks to prevent the lake from being overtaken by water hyacinths.”

What we saw: The area around the lake was clean and neatly maintained. The water looked clean, and we saw people from different age groups walking, running, and jogging in the morning. According to locals, it is the best-maintained lake in the city.

Uttarahalli

The four-acre lake was rejuvenated in 2015 by the BBMP and is now being maintained by Zone One of the South City Corporation of the GBA.

What we saw: Though the area around the lake was actively used by the public, the lake was very low in water level and almost looked dried up. 

Varthur and Bellandur

These lakes fall under the jurisdiction of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). BDA chief engineer Shantha Rajanna says the desilting of the 450-acre Varthur lake was completed a year ago. It will soon be handed over to the GBA East City Corporation for further development and maintenance.

As for the 890-acre Bellandur lake, it is currently undergoing desilting. Rajanna says, “We need to remove a total of 32 lakh cubic metres of silt. We have already removed 22 lakh to 24 lakh cubic metres.” After the desilting is done, the lake will be handed over to the GBA East City Corporation.

Halasuru

The lake was drained about a week ago and is being desilted for the first time in 20 years. Shilpa, assistant executive engineer (lakes), GBA, says the desilting has not yet begun because the area is still too wet.

“We will wait for it to dry a bit before starting the process,” she says. The plan is to complete the desilting before the monsoon sets in. Once desilting and rejuvenation are done, the lake will be handed over to the Central City Corporation of the GBA, she says.

What we saw: The lake has been completely drained, and the area around the lake is also being worked on. Some people were seen using the walkways in certain parts. 

Nagawara and Hebbal

Both lakes were drained between early and mid-February for desilting, bund construction, and water capacity enhancement.

Rejuvenation of the Nagawara lake (92 acres) is only about 10% complete, reports suggest. GBA executive engineer Nithya says both lakes are undergoing “comprehensive development,” which includes desilting. The Hebbal lake is spread across 192 acres.

In the first phase, silt will be removed, bunds created, and inlet systems established. “We have discovered that both lakes have their inlets diverted, which means they are prevented from receiving rainwater,” she says.

The inlets have been identified, and the encroached areas will be cleared, she explains.

The Nagwara lake has about one lakh cubic meters of silt that needs to be removed.