BENGALURU: For residents near Byramangala lake, every day here is a living hell. Foul smell emanating from the now frothing lake has forced many to take to social media where they are blaming the state government of neglecting the lake, which is just 40km away from the capital city.
The pollution is a result of sewage water flowing in from Bengaluru city.
Bengaluru too is bearing the brunt of this negligence. Vegetables and fruits grown near the poisonous lake all end up in Bengaluru’s markets.
In 2018, The New Indian Express had reported about the plight of the villagers. Over the years, villagers from Bidadi taluk, where the lake lies, have been suffering from blackened feet and itchy skin among other health problems. Then deputy commissioner Rajendra had directed officials to set up a sewage treatment plant for tertiary treatment.
It was later learnt that the sewage treatment plant at Vrushabhavathi Valley, from where the water flows into the lake, only had the capacity to treat 15 million litres per day (MLD) as opposed to the required 60 MLD capacity.
On Saturday, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board Chairman Tushar Girinath told The New Indian Express an STP of 20 MLD capacity was already established and an addition 40 MLD capacity STP is being set up and will be commissioned in July. It will stabilise in two months.
As for the control of effluents, he said the onus is on the cluster of industries to establish a common effluent treatment plant and added that this is being looked over by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
Incidentally, hardly any industry has a treatment plant. Top officials from KSPCB said that 222 industries along the Vrushabhavathi Valley catchment area were recently slapped with closure notices as they were operating without proper permissions. The official added that most of these industries are small and are running plastic recycling units.