Degradation of Bangalore Lakes

The effluent of the affluent

Bangalore, the silicon valley of India, has seen unprecedented growth of the IT industry in the last 12 to 15 years. This meant large scale influx of talent pool into the city taking a toll on the infrastructure, which was not growing at any pace, let alone at the same pace. Private builders stated building exclusive software parks for IT companies and apartments targeted at the IT workers and one such case is discussed in this paper.

Bagmane builders started construction of Bagmane Technology Park in the year 2001 in a 30 acre land in the periphery of Bangalore for various companies like Iflex technologies, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Samsung and Hewlett Packard. The construction land was in a marshy place with relatively small lakes all around. With the techpark poised to employ more than fifteen thousand well paid techies in the technology sector by 2005, a series of small time builders started building apartment complexes in the adjoining village by the name Kaggadasapura. Agricultural land of the village was sold by farmers attracted by quick money. The village of Kaggadasapura, with a few kutcha roads soon saw an unplanned growth of apartments with absolutely no civic amenities like water supply, sewage disposal system or proper road side drains. The apartment builders dug bore wells for water. The untreated sewage of all the apartments, which account for more than 6000 families, was conveniently let into the nearby 82 acre Kaggadasapura Lake! A look at the demography of the residents of Kaggadasapura reveals that a vast majority living there are professionals, upper middle class and at least a graduate. It is difficult to phantom the dichotomy that is evident in the residents of this place. They have seen the world more than most of their fellow citizens; they have access to all the knowledge under the sun, are considered to be in the civilized strata of the society and yet are blind to this blatant abuse of nature by themselves. Regrettably Kaggadasapura is not the only place in Bangalore, which has seen such a Ð''growth'. There are many such private layouts in and around the periphery of the Bangalore city, providing housing for the affluent, but leaving their effluents for the nature to take care! No wonder Bangalore had 262 lakes in 1976 and today there are only 81. Of these, only 34 are live1. Let us examine as to what failed in this context.

Importance of lakes in Bangalore

Lakes in Bangalore are found at numerous elevations, storing rainwater and recharging ground water. Water bodies nourish the flora and fauna, which in turn retain moisture and high ground water table and a cool climate. Lakes form open spaces in urban areas, functioning as "urban sinks" to absorb heat and pollution from the air. Bangalore being poorly placed on ridges and valleys, rainwater is the main source of replenishment of ground water.

Externalities

The high growth of technology industry in Bangalore has brought its share of positive externalities in terms of providing direct and indirect employment to thousands and contributing to the exports of the country. Although this industry is by itself a non-polluting industry, the negative externalities in terms of abuse of natural resources cannot be taken lightly. The industries out of compulsion and Ð''urgency' go for offices built by private builders often violating environmental considerations by encroachment of lakes and fertile agricultural land. The result is mushrooming of unplanned residential layouts nearby who further encroach and pollute the water bodies nearby. These layouts have already used up the entire available ground water resource and are dependent

on water tankers from other parts of the city. The small sections of underprivileged in the same area now suffer with empty wells and inability to afford costly water tankers. This is a typical example of the poor being penalized for natural