History of the Pollution of Ulsoor Lake
By Rahul Gupta
Ulsoor Lake is the biggest lake in Bangalore. It is situated around MG Road and has multiple islands inside the water body. Sir Lewin Bentham Bowring, the commissioner of Bangalore, created the lake.
The lake has been been subject to a lot of pollution over the years.
A study was done where the health of the lakes Eco-system was monitored for light, temperature, oxygen, nutrients and types of aquatic plants that grow in the lake. It was found that three drains from different locations are actually fed into the lake. The first drain is from the Madras Engineering Group of the Army, second from Jeevanahalli and third from Doddigunta.
Blue Green Algae (which is known to be toxic) was found on the surface to the bottom of the lake. This affected the life of the aquatic plants and fish with only a few fish remaining in the lake.
Over the years, a lot of articles and videos on Youtube have surfaced of dying and decaying fish remains to float up near the shore indicating that this man-made paradise is slowly dying.
Old-timers remember diving in from the Gurudwara side of the park, with family, friends and sitting by the shade of the lakes many mayflower trees. Boating and Fish were also a thing in the lake. This was all unfortunately around the 70s, it was all downhill from there with the lake becoming foul-smelling and sewage — infested body that was slowly becoming extremely polluted.
In June 2015, 32 tractors full of waste were cleared from the lake and subsequently a barrier was installed to restrict the trash to a corner.
On 7th March 2016 thousands of dead fish rose up to the surface of the Ulsoor Lake and washed up on shore. According to the former chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, this happened every March. He said that the fish die because of decreased oxygen levels in the lake dure to the sewage choking up the lake. He said that some bacteria and fungi can improve oxygen levels and other methods would include aeration of the water by water springs and water falls.
There is a whole portion of the Ulsoor lake that is covered with weeds in the water with virtually no space between them, causing overcrowding and depletion of oxygen levels. It still stands there till this day, uncleared and threatening to the condition of the lake.
Starting 2018, sewage was redirected, but the pollution has not stopped there. Residents are regularly dumping garbage along the catchment area, including wet and meat waste. When it rains, the garbage floods into the lake and settles on the wetland after which 300 loads of garbage is produced promotion the growth of oxygen depriving algae.
On the 11th of October over 1000 army men of the Madras Sappers waded into the waters of Ulsoor Lake and took out ‘water hyacinths’ and invasive species of plant which was threatening to take over the lake. Residents, tired of complaining to the Pollution Board, were overjoyed to see help arrive. The weeds were pulled out with their bare hands.
A lot of measures have been taken by not just the people of Bangalore but also those in charge of maintaining the park to try to keep the lake clean.
Limiting the time people spend at the lake seems to have minimal to no effect . Ulsoor Lake opens at 7 am and closes at 10 am, the next opening is at 4pm to 7pm. Even with the strict timings, people still continue to throw trash into the lake. The sewage has an unbearable stench to anyone travelling across the other half of the road, it makes all the things that make Ulsoor beautiful, look dull and distasteful. Even on the opposite side of the drain, where it is supposedly ‘clean’, people have contaminated the shores of the lake with garbage (taking advantage of the side of the lake that remains open throughout the whole day). The lake has seen its share of struggle against pollution, but it seems that the drainage and sewage is here to stay as now the crops growing around the drain are dependent on the sewage water to grow. Only time will till if anything will change for the better.
