By the way guys, saw ads in papers saying that CAG is conducting a performance audit on the subject of Water Pollution and that if we want to draw attention of CAG to any particular instance of water pollution, we can reach them at their email/fax. See details in the ad image below.
Shall we collectively nominate a Bangalore lake that we think has seen sever pollution issues? Bellandur Lake? Varthur Lake (we were told by IISc that this lake too has seen BOD levels drop). any other?
Lets pick one and send individual emails to CAG. 20-25 emails about one single lake might do it.
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List all candidate lakes here, and ...
I think I can create a simple form to automate this. The form will have 6-7 candidate lakes mentioned. If you know of pollution issues about a lake in the list, select it, add your comments, and say "nominate this lake". And then, a mail will automatically be sent to CAG.
Fairly easy to do this (from technology point of view). All I need is a list of deserving polluted (and neglected, possibly due to poor execution of projects to keep them clean) lakes from all water enthusiast members.
Let me add my two
- Bellandur Lake
- Varthur Lake
Bring on more. Please don't mention a lake if you just know some names. Issue is water pollution, not lack of recreation or just-encorachment around lakes.
Bangalore being a city if
Bangalore being a city of lakes and all lakes being polluted by sewage water and other stuff entering the same . Puttenhalli lake(J.P.Nagar) is one lake I would like to nominate
Nominating Lakes
Dear Pranav,
Since there are several parameters of pollution in a Lake, I guess what qualifies from an ordinary citizen's point of view is the lake with the maximum odour and algae bloom formation.
I guess Bellandur lake takes the cake in both these respects. I vote for Bellandur.
A close second would be the Madivala Lake.
Regards & best wishes,
Chari
RKC
Puttenahalli Lake
It looks more like a hyacinth farm and it stinks too.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
I vote Bellandur lake
Bellandur or Varthur lakes are good candidates. They are downstream of several lake systems and receive huge quantities of untreated sewage. The IISc group study also serves as a boat load of material for the CAG audit to reference. The dumping of urban construction waste is also seen near Bellandur. So that would be a good location.
Plus, from the photos PSA sir and I have and collected literature, we can put together a compelling case listing all the issues for the CAG to consider.
FIRE AROUND THE LAKE ON A DAILY BASIS- A CONCERN
I'm a regular walker around the lake in the morning and what concerns me is the black patch of burnt remains all over the place it is causing me a lot of concern.
the plant sellers on both sides of the lake carry water for pot making and bathing and what not.
Initially there was only 1 security manning the lake on the rolls of lumbini gardens, but now there are 4 families staying in the 4 rooms with power connection, cable connection and what not.
I really wish i could do something to maintain this natural habitat.
draft letter to CAG
Dear Sir,
I am a resident of Bangalore. As you may be aware, Bangalore has several lakes along the natural valleys for rain water drainage in the city. Unfortunately, these lakes are suffering from huge pollution issues (among other issues such as land encroachment) that we would like to bring to you attention for the proposed water audit. As an example, please take the case of the Bellandur lake
1. A big fraction of Bangalore's sewage finds its way to this lake, partly thoguh serwer lines and partly through the storm water drainage channels which are adjacent to leaking sewage lines. Only a fraction of this sewage inflow is treated resulting in pollution of the lake water.
2. As you are aware, sewage often contains industrial waste also, which enters the lake. Documented scientific studies have looked at issues such as heavy metal contamination in this lake habitat
3. In addition, it is well known that many industries dump chemical and other liquid wastes into the lake water. I have personally seen items like broken tubelights dumped at the ingress to this lake
4. The areas surrounding the lake are now a place for dumping construction / demolition debris
5. Many unregulated private water supply agencies extract contaminated water from location in close proximity to the lake and supply to neighboring apartments and residences that do not have proper piped city water supply. A case in the lok adalat by the village of Bellandur demanding BWSSB water supply due to contamination of their water wells is a ready reference of the impact.
Kindly consider this lake as a prime example to illustrate the woes of the lakes of Bangalore
---- Does this draft sound good folks? ----------
looks good, so now
Lets create a petition like thing, and set it to email the draft above, and the name of a lake each time someone "signs" the petition. Sounds good?
Include pictures too
I think it might be a good idea to include some pictures showing filth & debris around the lake as also a closeup shot to throw light on how poor the quality of water in the lake is - will try to get some pictures soon, & would appreciate others' contributions too.
Bellandur Lake Map /Pictures
Click here for clearer pictures.
Sanjay's pictures (Sep-09) are here.
Done, everyone please mail CAG
Here is a web form to make it easy for us to send our nominations to CAG in consistent way.
http://praja.in/en/form/2...
I have picked all lake names I could see in comments above.
The form can only be filled by registered users of Praja, don't want to spam CAG's mail box.
Why against PPP
Recently I had been to the Nagavara lake (Lumbini gardens). I was pleasantly surprised to see the blue water, the nice work done on the park and the rides around the lake. If this is what happens to a lake through PPP, why were some prajaegalu writing against the PPP model for the Agara lake, Hebbal lake, etc.
I may have missed something, but from first looks PPP seems the way forward for lake maintenance and sustenance.