Lakes

Over 1000 people participated in various activities at the World Environment Day celebrations organised by YUVA, and held around Allalasandra Lake area this morning.   Tree planting in Allalasandra lake area was done by Bengaluru MLC Mr.Narayanaswamy, BBMP Yelahanka zone Joint Commissioner Mr.Sarfaraz Khan, Ward 4 Corporator Mr.Satish, YUVA members, local citizens, students of Sheshadripuram College, Poorna Prajna School, MES and Govt PU college.   Students from Sheshadripuram College took out an awarness rally in Yelahanka New Town, on the plastic ban, waste segregation and water conservation. Saplings were distributed. Bhoomi Thayi Balaga entertained the public with songs about the environment and lakes.…

The Karnataka Lake ​Conservation and Development Authority (KLCDA) is on the look out for lake wardens, to work on a voluntary basis. The government order and other relevant information can be seen here.   The Karnataka Lake ​Conservation and Development Authority Act 2014 was constituted (vide Gazette Notification No.Samvyashae 07 Shasana 2012, Bangalore dated 07-Mar-2015) for Lake Conservation and Development. The Act finally came into force in March 2016, with the following mission:- To establish a strong system of well linked lakes and tanks free from organic and chemical pollutants, and- To intensify official concern and motivate community vigilance to the extent where pollution…

To all our friends, Puttenahalli Lake, May 2016 ​ For many of us, every day is Environment Day. Still, it feels good to see the whole world pause on 5th June every year and focus on raising awareness about environmental issues and concerns. From the World Environment Day website "This year's theme for WED – Go Wild for Life – encourages you to celebrate all those species under threat and take action of your own to help safeguard them for future generations. This can be about animals or plants that are threatened within your local area as well as at the…

Watch the birds, feed the ducks, get a sapling to plant, listen to environment-related songs, help in cleaning the lake surroundings, learn about managing your waste. All these and more at the World Environment Day celebrations at Allalasandra Lake, Yelahanka    

When buildings come up in the catchment area of a lake, there's bound to be flooding during the rains. Two major residential projects, Bren Imperia and Shriram Chirping Woods are coming up on on the sensitive valley zone between Kasavanahalli and Kaikondrahalli lakes. Citizen Matters had written about what was happening in the area.  Residents ask govt to save Kaikondrahalli, Kasavanahalli lake wetlands Yet another construction threatens to dry up Kaikondrahalli lake How construction debris is letting sewage enter Kaikondrahalli lake Just a month ago, the National Green Tribunal had dismissed the petition against these projects. But the recent heavy rain…

The rocky plateau of Bengaluru was originally a combination of grassland and scrub and thorn forest, with small trees. We don’t know have a historical record of the original climate. But was it likely to have been warm and dry, just like the other districts nearby, namely Kolar and Chikballapur, possibly receiving only about 300-400mm of rain, with the temperatures somewhere in the mid-thirties? We don't know, but that's just a wild guess. Bengaluru’s first man-made climate change Though the city originally had a few tanks as water sources, around which settlements were built, those who ruled Bangalore, including Cholas…

She stands with folded hands near the dam. Ponnaiyar, Thenpennai, Dakshina Pinakini.... these are the names she personifies. Statue of Dakshina Pinakini in Bhoganandeeshwara temple. Pic: Vishwanath Srikantaiah At the ancient Bhoganandeeswara Temple, children listen to their teacher narrating the story of a spring that comes and fills the step-well. Here is where it all begins. In Kannada there is a saying—never ask about the origins of a sage and a river. Children listening to the story at the Bhoganandeeshwara temple premises. Pic: Vishwanath The city of Bengaluru has made it to international news because two of its lakes started…

On the evening on May 12th, raw sewage gushed in from the eastern inlet for nearly 3 hours into Kaikondrahalli lake. With help from BBMP labourers provided by BBMP lakes Engineer Shilpa, and with many of the lake visitors and volunteers staying back at night to oversee the work, we could partially block the inlet. The blocking at the inlet was reinforced in the morning, but sewage continues to trickle in. With a JCB borrowed from Bren Construction, we tried to block the main source of the sewage inflow, but had to re-open it soon as the land owner and…

Would we choke off our lungs to “develop” ourselves? Certainly, in Bengaluru, we seem to be doing so. One lung is our green spaces, and the other is our lakes. Both are under threat and have shrunk so much in the past few decades that the quality of life in our city has been seriously impaired. Let’s leave trees and greenery aside for a minute, and concentrate on our lakes (or lack of them). From about 1,790 + lakes, we seem to be down to a hundred, and the greed of real estate sharks (fuelled by the very real need…

In what could be a big blow to all developers constructing their projects around lakes, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has delivered a landmark judgment. The NGT judgment imposes a new buffer zone of 75 metres for lakes and wetlands which will be a no-construction zone, as opposed to 30 metres of buffer earlier. This will stop all new projects from getting constructed within 75 meters of lakes, and will impact many existing projects too. The NGT has also ruled that the buffer zone of the rajakaluves must be calculated from the edge of the drain, as opposed to the…