Green valleys can save city

Green valleys can save city
The Times of India

Bangalore: Wondered why it takes a little rain to drown most parts of the city?

Anecdotal evidence might lead a citizen to say that it is not good to concrete every bare patch of ground thus making it difficult for collected rainwater to drain away. Now, there is proof that the city’s headlong rush into urbanisation has taken a heavy toll on its natural valleys.

NRSA satellite imagery has shown that the city is lucky to have some natural valleys left. The imagery, used to prepare the draft masterplan 2015, shows that most of the valleys have been concreted.

In fact, BDA has found, to its chagrin, that land it developed into a layout on Srinivagilu tank bed in Koramangala used to be a natural valley. “That is why, rainwater takes six-eight hours to recede in this area,’’ a BDA source told the Times of India. “Before the masterplan, we had no scientific basemap, NRSA has given us three-dimensional pictures of the natural system. All we can do from now is to be careful,’’ the source said.

Encroachments ageold: It is not as if the encroachments have come up overnight. Scientists have long known that Bangalore used to have many little tanks that carried water for about six months a year. There are ‘nalas’ that flow east to west and west to east feeding either into the Arkavathy or into South Pinakini rivers. Over the years, however, many of these little tanks and ‘nalas’ have either dried up or been ‘developed.’