Environment

Kaikondrahalli lake has seen a few ups and downs of late. This is a comprehensive update on the various works in and around Kaikondrahalli Lake. Sewage diversion pipeline work: Last year (May 2016), copious amount of sewage started flowing in from the south-east end of the lake. Despite efforts from the lake team and continuous complaints to the zonal office, this could not be stopped. Early this year, BBMP lake department undertook a sewage diversion work to divert the sewage through a pipeline through the lake. The diverted sewage will drain into the culvert in front of Purva Sunshine apartment…

Residents of Ennore along with environmentalists organized a human chain formation at Elliot’s beach on Saturday evening even as actor and probable new politician in the fray Kamal Haasan visited the Ennore creek, to know more about the ground reality of its ash pollution and encroachment. In contrast to the usual weekend scenes, Elliot’s beach at Besant Nagar was filled with more than 250 like-minded individuals – from kids to senior citizens – who were holding placards that explain the sorry state of Ennore Creek. Industrial effluents from the thermal power stations here and domestic sewage from North Chennai have…

It’s that time of the year, when crackers compete with lights. It is also the time when eye hospitals are on alert to attend to emergency cases. This is when Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) starts measuring air pollution in Bengaluru diligently and collects data to compile reports on air quality. This is also when activists, media and government agencies start coming up with fire safety guidelines. And this also is when activists who advocate eco-friendly celebrations are countered with whataboutery on crackers:“What about animal slaughter done by other religion?” “What about industrial pollution?” “Don’t you pollute air by…

Here is a drainage map of the city of Bengaluru sourced from the Central Ground Water Board website. No city sitting on a ridge line should actually get flooded but we have achieved the impossible — of course in parts. A dotted ridge line divides the city between the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin and the Dakshina Pinakini, from the North to the South. There is a huge difference between these two in the slope, the hydro-geology, the soil, the rainfall, the built up area etc. The drainage patterns - the rajkaluves - are interesting too. They are more dendritic in the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin…

There's no denying that butterflies bring touches of bright colour to a dull, rainy day. At the Valley School near Bengaluru, on Gandhi Jayanti, (2 October 2017) we were singing the Blues.... Blues are Lyacaenid butterflies, which show a bright blue colour when flying (and which is often hidden when they alight and fold their wings.)  As Wikipedia puts it, Lyacaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species. Some species among them are known to be…

The third week of August ended with a wildlife event and a wildlife/conservation festival, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The first was the screening of "Cobra King", a documentary on the King Cobra made by Sandesh Kadur of Felis Creations It was Gowrishankar of Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology narrating the life cycle of this iconic reptile of the Western Ghats. I cannot yet find the documentary on the net ( has it not yet been released to the wild, like rescued snakes are...?), but here is another video on the same snake from the same film maker: Here's…

The journey of the Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) as a governmental agency committed to its cause and enjoying the support of the political establishment has already been documented in an article that describes its setting up of the Adyar Eco-park. The road ahead for this agency promises to be equally eventful as it embarks upon several ambitious projects such as the restoration of the Cooum and Adyar rivers, the Buckingham canal restoration project and the mapping and restoration of all water bodies in Chennai. Monumental as they sound and as they indeed are, these are goals that almost every…

Chennai has many nature enthusiasts; talk to any of them and the one topic that comes up every single time is the systematic and continuous destruction of the city’s existing natural wealth. Actions by government and citizens have been equally responsible for the plundering of nature and the resulting erosion of native flora and fauna. It therefore comes as a pleasant surprise when a governmental organization sensitises the public, consults them and is willing to listen to ideas and implement them. Even more warming is the fact that this dream body is working on the restoration of the Chennai rivers,…

In recent years, a number of Bengaluru’s lakes got a second chance at life by undergoing extensive renovations, which has left them pristine and healthy ecosystems. But the work is not over yet. The newly rejuvenated lakes require a lot of maintenance to ensure their survival. And most of the times, all of this is put on the shoulders of community lake groups made up of passionate citizens. For many groups the hard work is just getting started, as they must raise a continuous amount of funds, fight encroachment and petition for improvements to solve sewage problems that continue to…

Over the last few years, many of Bengaluru’s lakes have gone through rejuvenation processes as described in the first part of this series, that completely transforms and restores lakes to beautiful common areas and thriving ecosystems. Behind every lake is a group of community members pushing for rejuvenation, government assistance or simply rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty in an effort to save a lake. Transforming a dead or dying lake is no small feat. Many hands have their stake in the rejuvenation. For many lakes, the rejuvenation process is a result of local community members and…