Bengaluru's Foam Spitting & Fire Emitting Bellandur Lake To Be Desilted By 2020

The Bellandur Lake in Bengaluru often makes news for all the wrong reasons - sometimes for spitting out toxic foam and sometimes for catching fire.

The water body in the heart of Bengaluru has been reduced to a garbage dump due to the years of neglect and uncontrolled illegal dumping of sewage. This had left the lake not only useless but a public health threat.

BCCL/ FILE

Now the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has said that it has decided to desilt the entire lake by 2020.

Last week BDA authorities along with officials from other concerned organizations inspected Bellandur and Varthur lakes to review their condition.?

So far, out of 8.06 kilometres peripherals, 7.86km, fencing is completed at the Varthur lake along with sluice gates and retaining walls at Varthur, Bellandur and Yamaluru wastewaters.?

BDA had also begun a process to demolish illegal encroachment on Bellandur lake’s buffer zone.?

BCCL

Desilting was one of the several measures that were suggested by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) committee headed by Justice N Santosh Hegde to rejuvenate the lake.

The committee, which was set up to oversee the protection and rejuvenation of the Agara, Bellandur and Varthur lakes, submitted its report to NGT in September.

Last month, the NGT had asked the state government to submit a status report on steps taken to clean Bellandur Lake and to prevent the entry of sewage water into the water body.

BCCL

Earlier the NGT had stated that Bengaluru's largest water body, the Bellandur lake has become the biggest septic tank due to "sheer callousness and indifference".

According to the committee, indiscriminate discharge of untreated sewage has resulted in an "environmental emergency", adding that there is not even one millilitre of clean water in Bellandur lake.

Other than the toxic foam, there have been several incidents of fire in the lake. The formation of methane gas due to the dumping of industrial waste and sewage from the city has been blamed for fire incidents.

BCCL

Taking note of the industrial pollution the NGT had in 2017 ordered the immediate shutdown of all industries around the lake.?

According to official data, out of 480 million litres per day (MLD) of wastewater and sewage is discharged into the lake only 308 MLD is treated.?

A study had also found that the toxins from the lake had entered the food chain due to the use of the water for irrigation in vegetable farms along the water body.