What is the issue?
- Bellandur Lake in Bengaluru again saw a major fire.
- The lake exemplifies the larger woes that plague our urban clusters.
What is the status of Bellandur Lake?
- Spread over 906 acres in south-eastern Bengaluru, Bellandur Lake is the city’s largest lake with a catchment area of nearly 279 sq km.
- It is one of the 70 lakes that survived from the 272 lakes that existed in and around Bengaluru four decades ago.
- Until the Eighties, the lake was a vibrant ecosystem that nurtured a variety of birds, fish and insects, and a popular picnicking, boating and fishing site.
- The dramatic growth of Bengaluru over the last two decades has led to massive amounts of domestic and industrial waste flowing into the lake.
- Encroachments of over 90% of its catchment area by settlements, and the dumping of garbage on its shores, have throttled the flow of water into it.
- All this has rendered the lake highly polluted and killed its biodiversity over time due the insane levels of toxicity.
- The lake’s water is currently unusable even for irrigation, and the lake’s surface is infamous for gigantic froth clouds that cover its entire surface.
- Often, froth also spills over into the many busy roads that skirt its shores.
What caused the current fire?
- Recently there was a massive fire that ranged over a 5 acre area of the lake for several hours and required over 5000 fire-fighters to extinguish.
- The “Pollution Control Board (PCB)” suspects mischief in triggering the fire.
- But some experts have asserted that chemicals and large amounts of methane in the lake may have resulted in an accidental spreading over a vast area.
- Notably, the Lake has witnessed small occasional fires in the past too.
- Inflammable higher hydrocarbons and organic polymers from nearby industries is the main culprit in fuelling the fires.
- Additionally, the large-scale frothing and vegetation (which causes methane formation) is due to phosphorus from detergents used domestically.
What has caused this pathetic situation?
- Bellandur Lake’s degradation is merely a pointer to the larger malice, which is the absence of any real accountability for the death of Bengaluru’s lakes.
- Notably, “Varthur Lake”, which is the second major lake in the city, is in an almost equally bad state.
- Also, the Vrishabhavati River, which like Bellandur was once a drinking water source for the city is now recognised only as an open sewer.
- Civic agencies failure to address the unplanned growth of the city has resulted in the unregulated flow of sewage and industrial pollutants into water bodies.
- The political will to act has been lacking, as the builder-politician nexus has rendered agencies like the state PCB largely ineffectual over the decades.
- More significantly, of the 200-odd lakes that Bengaluru has lost, the government itself has reclaimed several to create infrastructure.
- Notably, many bus stands, sports stadiums, housing complexes and even campuses of government undertakings like ISRO lie on erstwhile lakes.
What is the way forward?
- Regulation of phosphorus levels in detergents is needed to avoid further frothing and disrupting methane formation (primary cause for fire).
- Mandating decentralised sewage treatment, and strictly enforcing “polluter pays principle” for industries dumping untreated waste is needed.
- Protection of the catchment area from further deterioration due to real estate projects, garbage dumping and encroachments also needs to be done.
Source: The Hindu
