BENGALURU: Lakes are turning into sewage dumps and they have to be developed for economic growth, said eminent speakers at a seminar organised by The Institution of Engineers.
Most of them repeated the phrase ‘enough is enough’ to describe their frustration over the way lakes are being despoiled.
Retired executive engineer, Lake Development Authority, Krishnapa said, “Lakes and water sheds are either lost due to depletion of forest or due to urbanization of the city.”
Environmentalist Dr C Rajasekara Murthy, a Bengalurean based in Canada, was the keynote speaker. He spoke about the work done in Cannada on restoring three water bodies -- Great Lake Basin (world’s largest fresh water lake), Lake Ontario and Niagra River -- removing toxins like anoxia from the lake and making water pottable, with help from the US government and the local authorities. He urged young Bengalureans to work towards reducing pollution and restore wild and aquatic life, and working with the government and academics to help restore the lakes in the city.
BN Thyagaraja, chairman of the Environmental Engineering Division Board at IFI, spoke about how the once-pure Vrishabavati River is now a sewage drain due to land encroachment and indifference of the state government.
Nagaraju said that 44 city lakes are now dumping grounds for garbage and construction debris or were converted into the golf club grounds and Kanteerva Stadium. The recent fish deaths in Ulsoor lake, he said, was from the lack of oxygen.
He asked people to urge their governments to not divert lake areas and create buffer zones around the water bodies.
Noted ecological scientist at IISc, TVR Ramchandra, expressed unhappiness over society’s abuse of renewable resources. “Lakes are being encroached upon due to lack of co-ordination of para state agencies.
Lakes such as Bellandur lake are foaming from industrial pollutants and we must request the Government of India to ban use of phosphorous which is what made perennial lakes seasonal,” he said.
Ramchandra said that youngsters should not be “spineless, and take a call to save lakes.”