Skip to main content

Bengaluru Lake Crisis: No Potable Water In India's 'Silicon Valley'

According to data published by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, water quality analysis conducted across 147 monitoring locations between April and November 2025 shows that not a single lake in the city consistently met potable or safe bathing standards.

No Lake Achieves Safe Water Quality

The report categorised lakes under standard water quality classes:

Class A: Potable without treatment

Class B: Safe for bathing

Class D & E: Severely polluted, unsuitable for human use

Shockingly, no lake achieved Class A or Class B status during the monitoring period. Most lakes were classified under D or E, indicating heavy contamination.

Iconic Lakes Among Worst Affected

Several of Bengaluru's most well-known lakes recorded disturbing pollution levels:

Bellandur Lake: Rated E in April, briefly improved to D during summer, before slipping back to E by November.

Varthur Lake: Fluctuated between D and E categories.

Hebbal Lake: Maintained D status for most months before deteriorating to E.

Other severely affected lakes include Madiwala, Kaikondanahalli, Kundalahalli, and Ulsoor (all D/E), while Sankey Tank maintained a D rating. The report notes that the Bommanahalli and Mahadevapura zones emerged as the worst-hit regions, largely due to rapid urbanisation and untreated waste discharge.

Experts Warn of 'Ecological Emergency'

Environmental activist Madhuri Subbarao, co-founder of Friends of Lakes, said the findings confirm long-standing concerns.

"Many lakes in Bengaluru are on the brink of ecological collapse," Ms Subbarao said. "Today, we cannot point to a single lake with healthy water quality, stable ecology, or safe biodiversity. Most lakes fall below acceptable standards, with water unfit even for animal consumption."

She called for urgent government intervention, including the formation of a dedicated lake restoration task force, the scientific identification of pollution sources, and stronger collaboration with citizen groups.

Summer Water Stress Likely to Worsen

The findings come at a critical time as Bengaluru prepares for peak summer, a period when dependence on groundwater and tanker supplies traditionally rises.

With the city's primary surface water bodies now officially declared unfit for use, residents face a mounting challenge in securing safe water as temperatures climb.



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/BMK6iod
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PM Modi To Reschedule 3-Nation Europe Visit As Tensions With Pakistan Soar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put his three-nation Europe visit on hold as tensions between India and Pakistan have surged in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed by Pak-linked terrorists in a religiously-motivated terror attack. India responded on Wednesday with precision missile strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PM Modi, who is closely-monitoring the situation, has reportedly asked for his visit to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands, which was due next week, to be rescheduled. As per his original schedule Prime Minister Modi was to commence his official visit to the three nations on May 13. He was also going to participate in the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on May 15 and 16. All three countries have been informed about the change in PM Modi's schedule. They have also been appraised about the current situation between India and Pakistan. Last month too, on the day of the Pahalga...
Post a Comment
Read more

After Nitish Kumar's 'Praise', BJP Says Doors Closed For Him

The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday said that its doors were "closed" for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the saffron party a year ago, stripping it of power in the state. State BJP President Samrat Choudhary made the averment to this effect in reply to queries from journalists about the Janata Dal United leader's address to the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University at Motihari. Speaking in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Mr Kumar had freely spoken of the tussle he had with the then Congress government at the Centre for getting a university approved for Motihari, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Champaran Satyagraha. Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Mr Kumar acknowledged that the project saw the light of the day only after a change of guard "in 2014" as the UPA government "initially refused and after much persuasion agreed in principle but did not move for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delhi Air On Brink Of Turning "Severe", Most Polluted In India

Delhi's air quality was on the brink of the 'severe' category on Sunday with an overall AQI reading of 382 - the worst recorded in the country for the day. Fifteen monitoring stations of the city recorded air quality levels in the 'severe' zone, having AQI readings over 400, data showed. The city also recorded its lowest nighttime temperature so far, as thick smog and haze shrouded it in a dense cover during the morning and evening hours. The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday was 16.5 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees above normal, according to the weather department. The national capital's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm every day, stood at 382, worsening from 316 the previous day. The locations where air pollution levels reached the 'severe' zone are Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, NSIT Dwarka, Najafgarh, Nehru Nagar, Okhla Phase 2, Patparganj, Punjabi Bagh, Rohini, Wazirpur and Vivek Vihar...
Post a Comment
Read more