This story is from July 30, 2019

Year after lake frothing, irrigation dept says demand for Bengaluru’s treated water grows in Kolar

A year after panic gripped Kolar district as a lake began to froth after receiving treated sewage from Bengaluru under the KC Valley project, authorities claim the scenario has changed now.
Year after lake frothing, irrigation dept says demand for Bengaluru’s treated water grows in Kolar
A file photo of the Narasapura lake
BENGALURU: A year after panic gripped Kolar district as a lake began to froth after receiving treated sewage from Bengaluru under the KC Valley project, authorities claim the scenario has changed now.
After the Supreme Court cleared the decks to resume pumping of treated water early this year, 20 lakes in the parched district have been filled. They have also recharged dead borewells and open wells, a senior official with the minor irrigation department, which is implementing the project, said.
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“In fact, people in Kolar are asking us to augment the supply so that treated water reaches their villages too,” he added.
The official said there have been no complaints of froth or pollution in any water body receiving the treated sewage. “In the next phase, we will fill lakes in Malur taluk. After the apex court gave the go-ahead for resuming supply, water has been pumped for nearly 100 days at the rate of 250 million litres per day,” he explained.
The KC Valley project, commissioned in June last year, involves supplying of secondary treated sewage from Bengaluru to recharge groundwater in parched districts of Kolar and Chikkaballapura by filling 134 tanks/lakes.
In July 2018, froth started emanating from Lakshmisagara lake, the first water body in Kolar to get water under the project. While the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) attributed the problem to a breach in the sewage treatment plant at Bellandur, activists termed the project an experiment which treated the poor people of Kolar as guinea pigs. Many farmers also complained about their cattle falling sick and vegetable yield turning rotten due to water contamination in lakes.

The pumping of treated sewage was stopped. The matter first went to the Karnataka high court and later to the Supreme Court. The apex court said pumping could be resumed following an assurance from the state government that it wouldn’t allow froth-like anomalies again and regular quality tests would be conducted on the water being released.
‘Govt is misleading public’
R Anjaneya Reddy, president, Shashvatha Neeravari Horata Samiti, who’s also a petitioner in a related case pending before the HC, said the authorities are misleading innocent villagers and the project in the present form can be harmful to aquifers in the long run.
“We are not against the project. Our grouse is the quality of the water being supplied. The Union ministries of health and water resources have clearly laid out guidelines for treating sewage from a mega city like Bengaluru and supplying it. But the state government continues to supply secondary treated water, which is not safe. Just because the water is colourless or odourless, it doesn’t mean it’s clean. Secondary treatment can’t remove harmful diluted salts or bacteria in sewage. Tertiary treatment should be a must,” he argued.
On the rising demand for treated water, Reddy said, “Farmers are so distressed that they want tanks to get filled somehow. They are ill-informed about the long-term repercussions on lakes and aquifers, which can be irreparable. Also, there are doubts about the quantity of water promised. Despite about 10 months of pumping since last year, only a few lakes have been filled. I still urge the government not to go ahead without proper research and public debate.”
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