BENGALURU: In May 2015, the Puttenahalli Lake had a few patches of water and was largely dry. A year later, the water is almost filled to capacity.
This lake in J P Nagar 7th Phase is a classic example of how various organisations joined forces to revive a dead community lake. The Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) and the residents of the South City apartment complex near the lake signed a Memorandum of Understanding early last year to revive the lake with the BBMP facilitating the process. Corporates joined the bandwagon after realising the genuineness of the effort.
The lake spread over 13 acres is 20 feet at its deepest point. Explaining the success story, Usha Rajagopalan, the driving force behind PNLIT, speaks of her joy in witnessing six Pheasant-tailed Jacanas deciding to make the lake their home now. “These shy birds are today mating here. We have so many other birds and fish today. This place was an empty dry bed earlier.”
She said that a year ago, the trust approached the apartment with nearly 2,000 houses to provide their surplus treated water, left underground, to the lake to help revive it.
“The management committee of South City agreed to it. After using the treated water for flushing and gardening, they diverted it to the lake using a pipeline. It began with 2.5 lakh litres of water per day and it has now increased to 6 lakh litres per day. It is this gesture that has revived the lake,” Usha Rajagopalan says.
The lake was sustained wholly by individual donations from members of the Trust and residents of the area. “It was important not just to revive the lake but also to sustain it and corporates are helping us out in that,” she adds.
Bosch India has provided funds for cleaning of the storm water drain here and strengthening it, V M Ware has helped in installing irrigation systems in the Lake which supplies water to the plants in the area while Deloitte Shared Services India Pvt Ltd has offered the Trust substantial funds to clean the lake, she added. Green Power System provided it 100 litres of slurry to enrich the soil in the lake.
The lake encountered a few problems recently and she is all praise for the support rendered by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. A sewage manhole just 100 mt from the lake burst during the rain earlier this month and BWSSB engineers stopped further damage. “It happened again this week. People learn to understand not to dump garbage in the storm water drains or divert their rainwater into underground drains. This only causes the manholes to get blocked and floods the streets,” Usha Rajagopalan adds.