Microbes to clean yet another lake

Microbes to clean yet another lake
Bangalore, DHNS:

A novel effort to clean the highly polluted Somasundara Palya Lake in Bommanahalli was undertaken by Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in association with private biotech companies on recently.

The lake is the second in the City being cleaned with Effective Microbe (EM) technology, a state-of-the-art microbial remediation method.

Altogether 1,000 litres of Advanced Effective Microbe (AEM) solution was released into the lake, located off Hosur Road in Somasundara Palya. The microbes in the solution consume biodegradable pollutants and other solid waste in the water and clean the lake, said Kiran Kulkarni of The Global Academy of Technology which is assisting BBMP in cleaning the lake. Bale Come Tech and Biotechnology is the other partner.

“The microbes are cultivated in an air-tight atmosphere prior to releasing them into the lake,” Kulkarni said. The Ulsoor Lake has been treated twice recently using this technology, he added.

Environmentalist Yellappa Reddy said this technology was highly cost-effective compared with the others used in cleaning of lakes so far. “Each litre costs between Rs 35 and Rs 40 depending on the concentration of microbes in the solution and this was inclusive of transportation and other costs,” he said. This was less than half the amount spent in cleaning up lakes using various other technologies, Reddy added. Further, the solution had no chemicals, he said.