Forest dept officials visit Lingambudhi Lake, revival of waterbody on anvil

Mysuru: Having undertaken the revival of Karanji Lake, where desilting is under way, the forest department is now keen on giving a new lease of life for the city’s largest waterbody – Lingambudhi Lake. The sight of the parched waterbody is a far cry from its halcyon days, when the lake would be filled with the chirping of birds from the world over.
A day after Mysuru district in-charge minister GT Devegowda directed the district administration to take steps to rejuvenate the waterbody, which is spread across 220 acres in South Mysuru, officials of the forest department led by deputy conservator of forests KC Prashanth Kumar visited Lingambudhi Lake on Tuesday. Devegowda’s intervention came in the wake of a memorandum that the members of the Lingambudhi Residents’ Welfare Association submitted, wherein they appealed to him to take steps to conserve the lake. The minister subsequently directed deputy commissioner Abhiram G Sankar to take cognisance of the residents’ demand, and initiate steps to revive the lake.
On Tuesday, news of the arrival of a team of forest department officials at the waterbody filtered among the residents, some of them rushed to the lake seeking his immediate intervention to save it for posterity.
Designated as an ‘Important Bird Area (IBA)’ by the Bombay Natural History Society – there are 37 IBAs in all across Karnataka – Lingambudhi Lake is an avian biodiversity hotspot, the revival and conservation of which has been a longstanding demand among environmentalists and bird watchers in the city. Consequently, the forest department is understandably keen on undertaking rejuvenation of the lake. Interestingly, the lake was revived using funds from the Asian Development Bank a decade ago, but encroachment of its feeder canals has choked the lake, turning it bone-dry.
Besides encroachment of canals in the waterbody’s catchment areas resulting in a marked decline in inflow to the lake, seepage from the bunds accelerated the depletion of Lingambudhi Lake.
A report documenting the decay of the city’s waterbodies commissioned by then Mysuru DC C Shikha in 2015 contained a plan to improve the health of the four lakes in Mysuru, which were being contaminated because of the flow of sewage water. A proposal for the implementation of the plan was subsequently sent to the government, but the project remains on paper nearly four years after its submission. On the other hand, a study indicated that nearly 3.5 million litres of untreated sewage water flows into Lingambudhi Lake every day, while the encroached canals obstruct inflow of fresh water.
DCF Kumar told TOI that the lake was entirely dry. “I have assessed the condition of the waterbody, and residents too have apprised me of the situation. I have a picture of what the lake was a few years ago, and what it has become now,” Kumar said.
The forest department, he added, would consult experts in various government agencies including those in the revenue department, Mysore Urban Development Authority, et al, and draw up a comprehensive plan to revive the lake. “The aim is to ensure that the lake never goes dry throughout the year,” added Kumar.