BWSSB

Bellandur lake

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Looks like there is no hope for the 3.61 sq-km Bellandur lake. The authorities responsible for the upkeep of this huge — and highly polluted — water body have given up. In a recent meeting of the High Court-instituted technical committee for the rejuvenation of Agara and Bellandur lakes, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board () has thrown up its hands , saying that the storm water drain network cannot be provided to all the villages situated on the catchment of these lakes. In plain terms: Sewage cannot be prevented from enteringin the foreseeable future and no treatment of the sewage flow is possible.The technical committee meeting was held on May 19 and a report by it was submitted to the court on June 10. The committee members comprised representatives from government and residents from, Koramangala and Agara.According to the minutes of the meeting, accessed by Bangalore Mirror, a BWSSB representative -- of chief engineer rank -- did some plain-talking: “The technology to network Under Ground D rains to all villages in the catchment areas is expensive’’ and if this has to be done, BWSSB consumers will have to pay hefty water bills which will not be acceptable (to the consumers).''Says Nitin Seshadri, a committee member from Koramangala: ``The government had a permanent solution to the problem by way of setting up a sewage treatment plant in the area. But unfortunately, the 40-acre earmarked in the BDA Masterplan for utilities has been given away by government to promote an SEZ, which will threaten the ecological balance of this catchment area. It’s also appalling that the committee has not recorded anything about this in its report.’’BWSSB said it has plans of providing underground drainage network to CMC areas situated in the catchment of both these lakes. This network is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. But even after that, there will be large unsewered areas left in the catchments from where sewage will flow into the drains and through them into the lakes. One suggestion to prevent this was to divert the sewage into the sewers. But a major problem there is that storm water gets mixed with sewage during monsoon and the combined flow will be heavy which is beyond the capacity of sewers. An attempt to intercept sewage will have to include diverting large volumes of flow.During heavy rains, the drain capacity will be exceeded and excess water will anyway flow in to the lake. To prevent debris from catchment areas joining the lake, screens may be installed but debris will still pass through. The only solution would be that every building in the catchment should be connected to the UGD. This will be very expensive since the unsewered areas are far flung, long sewers are involved and correspondingly the recurring costs will be high. If it has to be done, BWSSB consumers will have to agree to hefty rise in their water bills which is unlikely to be accepted. Land availability to treat the sewage is another problem and about 40 acres will be required for a 100-MLD plant and this restricts the options.It can be concluded that sewage cannot be prevented from entering Bellandur lake in the foreseeable future. The technology is available but the expense involved in prohibitive and BWSSB is highly unlikely to receive the necessary funding from the government or the public.Residents group are disappointed with the way the minutes of the meeting is prepared by the government representative. In a letter to the CEO, Lake Development Authority, the residents have declined to endorse the report as many of the serious issues have been misrepresented, according to them, in it. ``All of us at the meeting specifically mentioned that the obvious solution would be for KIADB to revert the 40-acre land to BWSSB for setting up a sewage treatment plant. But this was not included in the minutes of the meeting,’’ says the letter.In a periodic water sampling carried out by Lake Development Authority, in Bellandur Lake, most of the water quality parameters (there are 11 parameters to test water for quality) indicate deterioration of ecological status of the lake. The high values observed for BOD, carbon dioxide, phosphate phosphorous, lead, mercury, e-coli and total plate count. The physical appearance of high foam of flowing water from the lake indicates that this water contains high amount of phosphorous and other inorganic chemical compounds. E-coli has reached shocking levels – while the optimum range is less than 100, Bellandur water is ranging between 717 and 916. Normal range for Phosphate phosphorous should be 0.2, but the presence is 2.6. Total plate count should have been less than 5000, but in Bellandur it is upwards of 8000.