Bangalore residents come together to revive Kaikondrahalli Lake

Residents of Kaikondrahalli, off Sarjapur Road, have something to be pleased about. The Kaikondrahalli Lake, on the verge of extinction, now appears all set on the path of revival, thanks to the efforts of the people in the neighbourhood.

On Sunday morning, a campaign called ‘Wake the Lake,’ was held near the Kaikondrahalli Lake. The campaign was initiated by United Way Bengaluru, an affiliate of United Way Worldwide, which has been involved in lake rejuvenation projects in the city.

The Mahadevapura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti (federation of resident welfare associations of ward 150), worked with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike towards the restoration of the lake.

“We’ve suffered with water shortage here for a long time. There is an acute shortage. Not a drop, sometimes,” said Ramesh Sivaram, a resident of the area. Sivaram has been active in the rejuvenation efforts on Kaikondrahalli Lake. After 16 months of work, this group is beginning to see signs of revival in the water body.

“Two years ago, the lake had been reduced to a garbage dump. In the last 16 months, after the concerted efforts of people in the neighbourhood, we have noticed at least 54 species of birds here. And about 200 ducks can now be seen on the lake,” said Sohel Mohammed, who has been studying biodiversity in the area for the past three years.

“With the lake having gone quite dry, we had no big lakes in our neighbourhood. The water we got was terribly contaminated. The crowd today might have been a larger one, if so many people were not laid low by water-borne diseases,” said Sivaram, adding that the residents had formed associations to take turns negotiating water deals with suppliers.

Under World Health Organisation norms, each person requires at least 150 litres of water per day, for comfortably taking care of all one's needs. In Belandur, only four litres of water are available per person per day.