Bengaluru's urbanisation dictated by realty, disconnected from reality

Indiscriminate urbanisation decoupled from sustainability can only cause chaos in the long term. Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake near Avalahalli stands as a testimony to this.

“The water was clear, and the British government had even used it to supply drinking water to the Cantonment area,” recalls Y Lingaraju, the great grandson of Yelemallappa Shetty, who built the tank in the British era.

Born in 1947, Lingaraju says he enjoyed the serenity in the area as a child. “We used to drink this water,” he adds.

Cut to 2024. The stench of sewage emanates from the lake. The water is completely contaminated. This is the fate of all lakes in the city, which had to pay the price for the city on steroids from 2000 onwards.

Lakes are commons that everyone should protect. However, there was a disconnect between people and lakes. People lived by lakes, but they had no clue how they could be involved in protecting them. The landmark report by the NK Patil Committee laid out rules for lake committees, and now we see lake committees fighting for lakes.

Review of historical data and spatial analysis by the Energy Wetlands Research Group at the Indian Institute of Science has shown that the city had 285 lakes in the early 1970s, which has now come down to 183 in numbers. Many of them have been cut off from the drain network that kept them alive and fed the Vrishabhavathi, Arkavathi and Pinakini valleys.

‘No lack of knowledge’

Planning is important in ensuring a city’s resources are used optimally. “There were enough scientific institutes that had the know-how to develop the city, but there was a lack of vision among the leadership,” says Lingaraju.

Ashwin Mahesh, an urban expert, agrees. “The problem lies in the intentional lack of political will. The scarcity is a result of either poor planning or deliberately created scarcity.”

However, today, there is a lack of scientific expertise among government bodies. “Have you heard of groundwater geologists working at the BWSSB or other departments? Indiscriminate borewell digging continues in the city without scientific logic,” he adds.

Infra doesn’t keep pace

The city expanded fast due to urbanisation, but the BWSSB did not develop the necessary infrastructure. There are not enough pipes to cover the city or sewage treatment plants to treat water. Water from the existing STPs is poor and the sewage inflow to lakes continues.

There is no concrete plan to use the treated water as well. Take, for example, the water supply scene in the Peenya Industrial Area. During Covid, the BWSSB asked the industries to use tertiary treated water, but did not educate them on what the treated water would look like and its quality. As a result, the plan to use treated water has remained a nonstarter.

K Vishwanath, a Bengaluru-based water expert, says Bengaluru has seen conflicts between urbanisation and sustainability since the 19th century. This continues today. While the city started expanding after the IT boom in 2000, it took nine more years for rainwater harvesting (RWH) to become compulsory.

“RWH can only supplement the city’s needs; it can’t be the sole solution. Layouts and apartment communities could do this, but smaller and denser establishments in the city need piped water supply,” he adds.

Sustainability

Vishwanath says that though the city initially did not think much about sewage treatment, today, Bengaluru has India’s most decentralised sewage treatment infrastructure. About 59 STPs were operational by the end of the Cauvery 1st Phase. The BBMP has built more than 25 STPs near lakes. There are also 3,600 private STPs in the city. He adds that there is no sewage network, and building it in an unplanned urbanisation scenario is difficult.

“We amalgamate peripheral areas with lax rules into the city. We have a BMRDA infrastructure development plan, but we do not plan the development around it,” says Vishwanath.