Sir,

During last monsoon due to unexpected heavy late rains, many houses in Paduvarahalli area were inundated. In order to avoid such a situation, authorities have constructed a bridge near the junction of Valmiki Road and Hunsur Road. This work was also inspected by the Deputy Commissioner recently.

After its completion, now I find murky brackish polluted waste water flowing into Kukkarahalli Lake from Paduvarahalli side through the magic box drainage inlet into the Lake.  One stream is flowing through side drain abutting Hunsur Road and the other from behind the newly-opened Maharani’s College building on Valmiki Road.

This kind of flow of dirty water will further aggravate the quality of water and will not only endanger the aquatic life but also result in uncontrolled growth of algae etc., thus choking the water bodies with increased risk of mosquitoes and other water-borne bacteria.

No doubt we cannot simply discount and wish away waste water since it is also ‘water’; but when it comes to the question of environmental pollution, it would be better to ensure that the pollutants and other forms of e.coli and bacteria are filtered to the maximum extent and only treated clean water is allowed to flow into the Lake.

In view of vagaries of nature unexpected and untimely seasonal climatic changes resulting in either drought or flooding, it is difficult to accurately forecast onset of monsoons in the coming days.  Under such situations, water bodies in urban areas may have to completely depend upon waste water that will be a saviour if proper arrangement is planned and executed in a scientific manner before letting treated clean water flow into the water bodies.

Since prevention is better than cure and keeping in mind the future requirement of water filling in Lakes, at least with the help of treated waste water, authorities must ensure that side/storm water drains are not used for dumping garbage and wherever sewage lines are laid in the midst of such drains, the manholes are not broken and the lids are in place to avoid overflow of sewage into the storm water drains.

– Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, Environmentalist, Tilak Nagar, 5.2.2018

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