AT THE heart of it is corruption. It is not as if they do not know that the lakes are important". This apt comment from actor Girish Karnad, who was speaking LORE at a rally to protest against the destruction of one of Bangalore's wetlands - Koraniangala lake encapsulated the various dimen sions of the crisis. It is not just the issue of underhand pecuniary benefits to officials. At the heart of the destruction is the corrupt ideology of development at the cost of the environment.

Most of Bangalore's tanks were built in the pre-British days. A linking chain of such tanks was created in each region. Situated in the same catchment area, the surplus water from one tank would flow into another situated lower.

In the absence of a river source dose by, Bangalore has always depended heavily on its tanks. Kempe Gowda, founder of modern Bangalore, built a number of tanks in the 15th century. "These tanks were respected and protected," says Yellapa Reddy, special secetary to the government of Karnataka. "Farmers would desilt the tanks and carry back the silt to use as manure in their farms." That was traditional synergy at work.

By the 1860s, Bangalore had evolved an intricate system of harvesting rain water, and very little was allowed to go waste. But by the middle of this century, the crisis had become acute. A committee constituted in 1958 suggested water hauling from the Cauvery. Bangalore Deathlands. Hyde started getting 135 million litres per day (MLD) of water from the Cauvery from 1974 onwards, and the second stage started flowing in by 1982. Stage in of the Cauvery water plan was initiated in February 1995.

Yet, despite the fact that this has made government water supply in Bangalore the costliest in the subcontinent (Rs 7 per litre), there are no plans to revive tanks as a water source. "There is no way in which these tanks can be restored to their past glory," says S K Ghosal, chairperson of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Board (BWSSB).

D K Subramanian from the Indian Institute of Science points out that the gradual dependence on pumped-up river water has led to the neglect of traditional water systems. IW says tha .t simple treatment of tank water will at least a" suitable for non-drinking purposes. The N I airman Rao cd mittee, which surveyed the Bangalore tanks in 1985. to "Small filtration plants could be built around these tanks. at least a few people could benefit."

The committee recommended that the 'live' tankv handed over to the forest department for protection. Tbis is done in 1988. But the principal chief conservator of forew Parameswarappa, says that the department received oWr tanks, all of them almost dead. But the department's poW tion philosophy is limited to fencing off the lakes. A pi drawn up for'developing' these tanks involves dredging di and using the silt "to form islands planted with or shrubs and trees," says Parameswarappa. But environano ists are skeptical: the fences will be broken and the sitt Will carried back to where it was, they feel.

Meanwhile, the government remains the biggest emM the lakes and tanks. The city corporation has built the cityl terminus on the Dharmambudhi tank Part of the Samps tank has been converted into the Kanteerva stadiun36 while rest has been taken over by the Sampaniram Nagar Fxtm colony. The Siddikatte tank has long since been converted the city market.

The Citizens' Voluntary Initiative for the City (ctinc), a 5 other Bangalore-based NGos have filed a public interest I gation against a government order transferring more the acres of land in the Kormangala tank to make 5,000 flats are in a sorry state putting up athletes slated to arrive for the national gam early 1996. civic alleges that all the 93 acres of the tank arcs being covertly exploited because of their prime real estate status.

Pollution is also killing the tanks, with storm drains ca ing sewage into them, instead of water. And groundw sources have depleted so rapidly that today one has to down to above 300 metres to reach water. Besides, the dr up of the lakes have thrown out of gear the lives of all the I erfolk and the washerfolk dependent on them for their livelihoods. It is surprising that a city like Madras, which receives a norn annually, should face a water crisis moblent of flooding during the tionsoons. a them are not enough storage tanks in the had have been almost ruined due to pollution and enchrochment.

Wet, yet parched
Water supply to Madras city was first designed in 1872. The willike river was diverted to Cholavarm and the cbme has been recently launched to convert dkm lake to a domestic water reservoir for Wbdd Bank-funded scheme to bring 190 MLD slanan lake 220 kin away for domestic needs is on the anvil.

jillew hoping that by 1995 it would start receiving um firona the Krishna waters, but that did MaKe. the solution fies partly in renovating and minar sources like the temple tanks, and promoting iew harvesting from the roofs of every household IV Stannsundaram, professor at the Centre for wa, Anna University.

The Madras Metropolitan Area (MMA) has a waterspread ho 63 sq lan, in addition to the 39 temple tanks, Um tanks in the area form a 'system eris', a water harvesting system consisting of a series of connected tanks, and are situated in the basin of I of the 4 rivers flowing through the area.

Traditionally, townships in south India were centred around temples. The temple tanks were protected, and had wells located in them, serving as a link with aquifers. Madhavi Ganesan, senior fellow at the Centre for Water Resources says that a system of storm drains will have to be laid out if the tanks are to serve their purpose.

Encroachments, like the more than 25 colonies which have come up in the Velachary tank, have been the handiwork of the government. Slum encroachments are another problem. The Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) has also grabbed 57 acres of tank land. Residents in Ambcdkar Nagar have to live amidst sewage, and there have been incidents of children falling into what remains of the lake. New Anna Nagar, similarly, was built in the Ambattur tank, situated 15 km to the west of Madras city. And during the 1993 monsoons, all the 1,200 houses there were flooded.

The Consumer Action Group, art NGO, refers to documents of the TNHB and the Urban Development Corporation, which show that lakes have been surreptitiously marked off as wastelands. "When the World Bank gave TNHB Rs 600 crore as aid for slum improvement schemes, we had no land to implement them on. Hence, we had to think of tank beds," says N Sundarajan, deputy planner, Madras Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA).

Groundwater depletion has been heavy, thereby reducing the level of the aquifers. "Overexploitation of groundwater by government and private agencies has resulted in the saltwater front advancing by 800 m in the last 20 years," says Somasundaram.

Tradition botched
Hyderabad too has a glorious tradition of building tanks apportioning the Krishna spi between Karnataka, Tamil Naht Andhra Pradesh, has been run I rough weather since 1989. Besides i enue earnings of the govermneil largely eroded in paying for admimm tive overheads. There is certainN money to bring water from the KEW sources say.

So, the government has tuma the World Bank for funding. The I insists that water prices be raism make the scheme viable. This wowN the poorer sections below the belt. the government is not counting on A natives like improving upon the It and tanks. K.L Vyas of the Societv Preservation of Environment and Quality of Life (5FEQL) quote records to show that there are 679 waterbodies within the Ion radius of the city. Of these, 111 lakes are more than each. Assuming an average depth of 2 to (some of then down to 12 m), their total capacity is 164,756,01)0 metres, which is more than what the Krishna schem expected to supply, "If all these waterbodies are rej properly networked and tapped, they can supply waft Hyderabad for the next 30 years at least," says Vyas.

Andhra Pradesh uses only 30 per cent of its groundw potential, but there is overexploitation in some rural What goes in support of rejuvenating the tanks is that thu there are no studies on the relationship between these I groundwater levels, it has been found that recharge is IW around these tanks.

Pollution levels in the tanks have been going up. I Hussain Sagar lake smells of sulphur fumes and is filthy as I The quality of Hussain Sagar water has gradually deteriori during the last 20-30 years, mainly owing to the contim ingress of untreated domestic sewage and industrial effluent.

"There are more than 1,000 polluting industries sivas in the catchment area of Hussain Sagar," says Purushc Reddy, founding member of an NGo called Citizens Pollution (cAP). Most of the effluents flowing into the Has Sagar are from pharmaceutical industries. The take gets 6 chance to rejuvenate itself, since a runoff occurs only an year during the rains, and po resource in Bangalore tants flow in throughout year. Fish-kills have occurre a result of lack of dinohvd 4 gen, endangering the liveliho Of Many.

Politicians and land bets have become a threo these lakes. In fact the pren chief minister, belonging to Telugu Desam, party, built party headquarters on the h bed of Osmansagar. And wh collective sense of despair a the air, the powers-that-be & dangling their Mephistophd 'development'.