<p>Not all is lost when it comes to Bengaluru’s lakes. Over the past two years, NGOs, citizen groups, ecologists and engineers have worked to restore, expand, and even build lakes from scratch. They say they have received institutional and government support, along with CSR funding, to carry out these projects.</p>.<p><strong>Scaled up</strong></p>.<p>The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) campus in Yelahanka today boasts a three-acre lake. Until December last year, however, the site lay choked with sludge, sewage and weeds.</p>.<p>“There was already a 7,000 sq ft pond there, but we realised it had the potential to become a much larger water body,” said Harsha Tej, founder and director of BlueDot Foundation. His team was invited by CRPF officials to study the land, after which they proposed creating a three-acre lake to support groundwater recharge and biodiversity within the 250-acre campus.</p>.How the Greater Bengaluru Authority plans to bring drained lakes back to life.<p>More than 500 volunteers, including students and senior citizens, took part in the expansion effort. The lake now receives treated water and rainwater through an inlet system, and plans are underway to channel additional monsoon run-off into it. Excess water flows through outlet channels designed to recharge groundwater. The lake attracts more than 30 bird species, such as red-wattled lapwing and Asian green bee-eater.</p>.<p><strong>Lost and revived</strong></p>.<p>Residents of Kasturinagar were in for a shock in 2024 when they learnt that a site they had long used as a dumping yard was once a lake. Many had assumed it was vacant government land.</p>.<p>“People were dumping chicken waste, plastic, and construction debris,” said Gurunandan Rao M of Hands on Foundation, the NGO that has since led the restoration of the <br>B Channasandra Lake. It took months of land record checks to establish that the seven-acre site had once been a lake that had dried up and faded from public memory.</p>.<p>Volunteers and engineers cleared blocked stormwater channels, desilted the lakebed, created walking tracks, and planted native and endangered tree species around.</p>.<p>Today, nearly 300 residents visit the lake every day, with members of the Kasturinagar Welfare Association contributing Rs 500 a month towards its maintenance. Low-intensity solar streetlights have been installed to minimise disturbance to wildlife around the lake.</p>.<p><strong>Built from scratch</strong></p>.<p>Eagle’s Nest Lake was little more than a marshy patch of land inside the Army’s 515 Base Workshop campus in Cambridge Layout, strewn with debris. Army officials had noticed that water constantly accumulated in the area and approached Rao’s NGO.</p>.<p>“The entire catchment from M G Road and Trinity Circle flowed into this area before draining into Bellandur and Varthur lakes. So we thought we should create proper water-holding capacity here,” Rao said.</p>.<p>During excavation, what was initially believed to be a damaged pipeline turned out to be a shallow aquifer. Geologists later confirmed the finding, paving the way for the creation of the lake. It has maintained stable water levels since its inauguration in 2024, even during peak summer.</p>.Bengaluru lakes dying, one committee at a time.<p><strong>Lake or just a big pond?</strong></p>.<p>Ecologist Harini Nagendra says Bengaluru’s newly created and revived water bodies can be described as “pocket-sized lakes”, especially when they have proper inlet and outlet systems. While there is no strict distinction between a lake and a pond, she adds that many of Bengaluru’s water bodies began as irrigation tanks before evolving into what are now considered urban lakes.</p>
<p>Not all is lost when it comes to Bengaluru’s lakes. Over the past two years, NGOs, citizen groups, ecologists and engineers have worked to restore, expand, and even build lakes from scratch. They say they have received institutional and government support, along with CSR funding, to carry out these projects.</p>.<p><strong>Scaled up</strong></p>.<p>The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) campus in Yelahanka today boasts a three-acre lake. Until December last year, however, the site lay choked with sludge, sewage and weeds.</p>.<p>“There was already a 7,000 sq ft pond there, but we realised it had the potential to become a much larger water body,” said Harsha Tej, founder and director of BlueDot Foundation. His team was invited by CRPF officials to study the land, after which they proposed creating a three-acre lake to support groundwater recharge and biodiversity within the 250-acre campus.</p>.How the Greater Bengaluru Authority plans to bring drained lakes back to life.<p>More than 500 volunteers, including students and senior citizens, took part in the expansion effort. The lake now receives treated water and rainwater through an inlet system, and plans are underway to channel additional monsoon run-off into it. Excess water flows through outlet channels designed to recharge groundwater. The lake attracts more than 30 bird species, such as red-wattled lapwing and Asian green bee-eater.</p>.<p><strong>Lost and revived</strong></p>.<p>Residents of Kasturinagar were in for a shock in 2024 when they learnt that a site they had long used as a dumping yard was once a lake. Many had assumed it was vacant government land.</p>.<p>“People were dumping chicken waste, plastic, and construction debris,” said Gurunandan Rao M of Hands on Foundation, the NGO that has since led the restoration of the <br>B Channasandra Lake. It took months of land record checks to establish that the seven-acre site had once been a lake that had dried up and faded from public memory.</p>.<p>Volunteers and engineers cleared blocked stormwater channels, desilted the lakebed, created walking tracks, and planted native and endangered tree species around.</p>.<p>Today, nearly 300 residents visit the lake every day, with members of the Kasturinagar Welfare Association contributing Rs 500 a month towards its maintenance. Low-intensity solar streetlights have been installed to minimise disturbance to wildlife around the lake.</p>.<p><strong>Built from scratch</strong></p>.<p>Eagle’s Nest Lake was little more than a marshy patch of land inside the Army’s 515 Base Workshop campus in Cambridge Layout, strewn with debris. Army officials had noticed that water constantly accumulated in the area and approached Rao’s NGO.</p>.<p>“The entire catchment from M G Road and Trinity Circle flowed into this area before draining into Bellandur and Varthur lakes. So we thought we should create proper water-holding capacity here,” Rao said.</p>.<p>During excavation, what was initially believed to be a damaged pipeline turned out to be a shallow aquifer. Geologists later confirmed the finding, paving the way for the creation of the lake. It has maintained stable water levels since its inauguration in 2024, even during peak summer.</p>.Bengaluru lakes dying, one committee at a time.<p><strong>Lake or just a big pond?</strong></p>.<p>Ecologist Harini Nagendra says Bengaluru’s newly created and revived water bodies can be described as “pocket-sized lakes”, especially when they have proper inlet and outlet systems. While there is no strict distinction between a lake and a pond, she adds that many of Bengaluru’s water bodies began as irrigation tanks before evolving into what are now considered urban lakes.</p>