Lakes to be drinking water sources

Lakes to be drinking water sources
Deccan Herald

The LDA has sought the state government to initiate a legislation that will empower it to take action against anyone who violates or disturbs water bodies.

For those opposing any Cauvery water sharing proposal, here comes some good news. An ambitious bid to develop few lakes in Bangalore, as an alternate source of drinking water to its citizens, is in the offing. These may be early days to scout for an alternative to Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s (BWSSB) in-demand Cauvery water, but the Lake Development Authority (LDA) is keen that Bangalore’s lakes should be kept ready as ‘a contingency plan’.

In about three months, LDA will release a list of four lakes that can be developed as drinking water sources for Bangalore City. “We are in the process of identifying lakes whose natural in-flow drains have managed to remain free from sewerage,” LDA Chief Executive Officer B K Singh said.


The move is inspired by the Osman-Sagar in Hyderabad and the Gorewada Tank in Nagpur, both of which provide a large share of drinking water requirements. Hence, Mr Singh said that there is no reason why Bangalore’s lakes could not serve the same purpose for Bangaloreans.

Incidentally, tapping drinking water from lakes is not new to Bangalore. Even before BWSSB’s Cauvery project was initiated in 1974, the Thippegondanahalli reservoir and Hessarghatta lake took care of the City’s water requirement. In its hey days, the Thippegondanahalli reservoir supplied Bangalore 135 mld (million litres per day). Today it accounts for just 50 mld of the total 850 mld consumed by the City. Hessarghatta has, meanwhile, dried up to the last drop.

Lakes to be drinking water sources

The LDA is perhaps hopeful that the price paid in the environmental neglect of Thippegondanahalli and Hessarghatta tanks are lessons well learnt, as Mr Singh noted that when lakes are developed for drinking water purposes people will automatically seek to maintain and keep them clean.

Violations

The Lake Development Authority also plans to propose to the State government a separate legislation on natural resources, like the ‘The Andhra Pradesh Water, Land and Trees Act, 2002’. The matter will be come up before the board of the LDA latest by June, Mr Singh said.

Presently, violations and disturbances of water bodies are acted upon through Section 277 of the IPC. When the LDA comes across violations, it approaches the police through owners of these water bodies — municipal bodies like the BMP or the forest department. An Act as mentioned above will empower officers of the LDA to initiate action against violators directly.

Mr Singh said that most housing layout formations in Bangalore follow the ‘checks and boxes’ pattern with little regard to natural drains passing through them and attributed this as the reason to the gradual shrinking and disappearance of lakes.

He also said that no time-frame has been set for the realisation of the legislation, but it will be ‘worth it’ any time it happens.