Revived in 2016, Neela Hauz lake fast becoming a dumping ground again

NEW DELHI: The Neela Hauz lake — a natural depression next to Sanjay Van in south Delhi that was a dumping ground for malba and raw sewage before it was revived just three years ago — is again under threat due to dumping of waste.
As the lake lies on Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, commuters just park their vehicles on the side of the road and dump waste directly into the waterbody. This ranges from municipal solid waste, plastic bags and bottles, glass to puja material, and often even includes biomedical waste like syringes, according to officials of the biodiversity park under Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

A boat has been procured recently, which makes rounds across the lake every morning to “sweep” the waste. “The first thing we do each morning is to take a boat ride and two staff members carry out a clean-up,” said Yasser Arafat, in-charge at Neela Hauz, who had also worked on the revival project.
“We retrieve all types of waste items. Plastic bags can be seen floating on the surface, but heavier items sink to the bottom and are more difficult to remove,” he added. Park officials have even found carcasses of dogs. “People also offer prayers like they do at the Yamuna and puja materials have been found on a daily basis. We have tried to stop people but they seldom listen,” Arafat said.
Park officials have also written to DDA, requesting for fencing along the main road. “We hope that a net or some sort of fencing will stop the problem,” said Arafat.
Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems (CEMDE) had started reviving the lake in 2015 and finished a constructed wetland system, which naturally purifies the water reaching the lake, in 2016. Neela Hauz soon emerged as the ‘model’ lake for reviving the capital’s waterbodies.
Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist-in charge at Yamuna Biodiversity Park, said the lake was seeing an increase in the arrival of birds each year, but the waste might disturb the habitat. “It is important to note that these wetlands are life-supporting systems.” People should think 10 times before throwing any waste into a waterbody, especially one like Neela Hauz that has been restored from a raw sewage drain into a beautiful wetland, Khudsar pointed out.
A study carried out by park officials in 2016 to assess the water quality before and after the revival revealed that the dissolved oxygen levels had improved from 0 to 3.4mg/l, and the biological oxygen demand from 40 to 4mg/l. The phosphate count, too, improved from a high of 103mg/l to just 14mg/l.