Two new committees have been constituted to study the feasibility of bringing freshwater into Kukkarahalli lake, including exploring the possibilities of drawing treated water to it from Hebbal lake, and removing silt manually. This was decided at a meeting held at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on Friday.
D. Randeep, Deputy Commissioner, had convened the meeting to discuss the report on the development works at Kukkarahalli lake submitted by the two-member expert committee. The committee had submitted its report recently. The meeting, however, resolved not to take up any further development work at the lake in accordance with the expert panel’s recommendation.
The Lake Development Authority appointed Rama Prasad, a retired professor from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and C.N. Babu to the expert committee.
Mr. Ramprasad and Mr. Babu were present along with officialps from the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), members of NGOs and others. The expert committee had recommended against the dredging of the lake.
Soil polluted
The meeting discussed how the lakebed soil had been polluted owing to the release of backwash from Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW), an arm of Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB), which supplies drinking water to Mysuru city on behalf of the Mysuru City Corporation, into the lake. Some participants said the backwash contained chlorine, the accumulation of which over a period of time polluted the soil that needs to be removed.
Mr Randeep said a committee with officials from the KSPCB, the University of Mysore and the MCC had been constituted to facilitate studies on the soil samples and explore whether the soil can be removed manually without heavy-duty machines. This committee had been asked to submit the report in two weeks.
Fresh water
Likewise, another committee had been constituted to look into the options of bringing fresh water into the lake.
“The possibility of drawing water from Hebbal lake will be explored besides looking into the chances of bringing rainwater, or the recycled wastewater into the lake ecosystem. The possibilities of having a special treatment plant (STP) on the lake environs for treating waste water will also be looked into,” the DC said.
This committee had been asked to submit its report in three weeks. Until then, the status quo will prevail at the lake.
