lakes of bangalore

In an effort to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation and resulting ground water table depletion in hte city, citizen groups, NGOs and other organizations, active in the area of lake and water security for Bangalore, have come together to form One Bengaluru for Lakes (OBL). The group aims to raise 'One Bengaluru, One voice, One Demand' by reaching out to people to increase their awareness and involve them in the protection of lakes in their neighborhood. As part of this campaign, OBL organised a seminar on September 21 at Senate hall of Central College, Palace Road. The session opened…

Report by Jesse Jonathan A recent report stated that there are only 17 trees for every 100 people in the city of Bengaluru. This alarming statistic prompted some much needed action. On the occasion of the World Environment Day, the Uttarahalli Magakere Walkers’ Association along with UWBe and the BBMP organized a Planting Drive at Uttarahalli Lake. Event details can be seen here. 300 saplings were planted on the occasion. 200 Corporate volunteers from Ingersoll Rand and SanDisk, and close to 30 community members from the Uttarahalli area participated in the event. The activity was held to reaffirm the community’s commitment to…

More than 500 residents of Yelahanka spent a few hours on Sunday 9th March 2014, learning how to grow vegetables and fruits at home, and in the process, manage their kitchen waste too. This was at the gardening and waste management training, organised by Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) at Allasandra Lake park in Yelahanka New Town. The programme was conducted by the Department of Horticulture, Government of Karnataka under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana scheme. Dr K. Ramakrishnappa, Additional Director of Horticulture, Govt of Karnataka spoke about the benefits of kitchen and terrace gardening. In this age of pesticide-driven agriculture, he said that many of the…

SURVEY - If you are involved with Bangalore lakes, either as an experienced activist or a more recently engaged citizen, you are requested to answer the short survey here. Responses appreciated by 18th December 2013. For more details, read on... Bangalore lakes have grabbed unprecedented attention over the recent years, both in the media and academia. And this has not been limited by geographic location. Researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), Stockholm University, Sweden have been studying Bangalore lakes for a while now. Recently a film on Kaikondrahalli Lake was released by one of the project teams. More infomation…

Press release on the "Namma Kere, Namma Bengaluru" Workshop (provided by Save Bangalore Lakes Trust) Bangalore today is sitting on a silent time bomb of depleting and degrading quality of sources of water. One of the solutions lies in restoration of lakes for recharging its ground water, meeting water needs of the city and also in keeping its climate cool. Save Bangalore Lake Trust (SBLT) is a group of concerned citizens working for restoration, protection and maintenance of lakes in Bangalore. It aims to bring different lake groups or trusts in Bangalore on a common platform for a joint initiative,…

Some of the happenings about Bangalore's lakes this past month. Click the links to read the full stories and reports. Ganesha immersions  The days of Ganesh Chaturthi are usually high tension for lake lovers in Bangalore. A couple of weeks before the festival there were reports of how BBMP was gearing up, given that 3 lakh idols were expected to be immersed. There was a lot of publicity to persuade people to get eco-Ganeshas and encourage immersions in mobile tanks. Worshippers though seem to have had other ideas to please God. While there is no accurate record of the actual number of Ganeshas sold or…

Extracts from an email from Vishnupriya Hathwar, who frequents Puttenahalli Lake   --------- Just wanted to share somethings that many of you may have already observed [ or maybe not].. here goes !!   Due to the wonderful rains, the lake has filled up quite a bit, leaving only smaller islands for the birds. In this, the most common birds- the Common Coots have chicks that are almost grown to adult size [ only the plumage is still lacking]. Spotted a pair of Coucals - appears that they too have a young one!! Spotted a small Coucal with FRESH plumage flying across the lake.I have personally…

Last month, Kaikondrahalli lake on Sarjapur road had a distinguished visitor, Nobel Prize winner for Economics, 2009, Elinor Ostrom. She was here to see the results of collective action in Bangalore lakes. Dr. Ostrom planting at KK Lake. Pic: Priya Ramasubban. Elinor along with Harini Nagendra, an urban ecology coordinator, ATREE, Bengaluru, has been working to understand when exactly communities step in to conserve. Having heard of citizens initiative at Kaikondrahalli lake, Elinor who was in Bangalore for the Khoshoo Memorial Lecture at ATREE, decided to visit the lake and plant a tree.Citizen Matters caught up with the Nobel prize…