BENGALURU: Toxic foam is bubbling out of Varthur Lake again. The froth is spilling onto State Highway 35 at Varthur bridge and the foam surrounds the pedestrians each time they pass. The situation is getting worse with each passing day, but there seems to be no response either from the government or the civic agencies. The only action taken up by civic agencies like BWSSB is spraying chemicals to reduce the froth.
An expert committee headed by Mahendra Jain, Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development Department), was formed to resolve the issue pertaining to Varthur and Bellandur lakes. It has now been almost three months since the committee members submitted a technical report to Jain, but the government is yet to finalise on the panel’s suggestions.
Environmentalist A N Yellappa Reddy, who is part of the expert committee, says, “It has been some time since we submitted the report but we have not received any response so far. We suggested either dry dredging or wet dredging. In dry dredging, the entire water has to be diverted and pumped out, which is a costly affair. In wet dredging, we take out all the silt and dirt and pump treated water into the lake through wet-land technology. In order to do that, we need more STPs in place and more treated water to get into the lakes. The old ones need to be upgraded.”
Of the 400 mld waste water that goes into the two lakes, only 150 mld is treated, he adds.
Elan Kulandaivelu, a resident of Whitefield, says, “Despite many requests, millions of litres of sewage water is dumped into the city’s two biggest lakes - Bellandur and Varthur. No action has been taken by the authorities to tackle this menace. Barring a few inspections and encroachment clearances, nothing has changed. BWSSB has been saying that they are building an STP to solve the problem. But what about the STPs that have already been built but are non-functional?”
Untreated sewage has been flowing into the lakes primarily from HAL, Domlur, Koramangala and Agara. A BWSSB official says, “It is a massive issue and we are building four STPs in and around Bellandur and Varthur lakes to solve the issues. However, it will take at least two years to complete the work.”