This story is from November 12, 2019

Toxic lakes: Secunderabad turns up its nose

Foul smell from Hussainsagar and Kapra lake has been a major put-off for residents living near the water bodies. However, many said that the stench was very bad on Monday.
Toxic lakes: Secunderabad turns up its nose
Kapra lake
SECUNDERABAD: Foul smell from Hussainsagar and Kapra lake has been a major put-off for residents living near the water bodies. However, many said that the stench was very bad on Monday.
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“We had to install air purifiers in our homes to avoid the stench,” said Vikas Shah, who lives near Kapra lake. He blames the sewage flowing into the lake through DLR Enclave Junction for the situation. Water from Kapra lake was drained out recently for desiltation and pipelines were supposed to be installed to divert the sewage to Musi.
But the project was suspended midway due to land dispute. Now, only sewage water flows into the lake.
“The stench is a perennial problem. The diversion of sewage into Musi river has been a long-pending plan, but nothing seems to have been done,” said Satish Kumar, who has been fighting to protect the lake.
The condition of residents living near Hussainsagar is the same. “The stench is there throughout the year, but it gets worse during certain periods,” said S Revathi, who lives in Domalguda.
Agreeing, C Suresh, a regular visitor to the lake for his morning walks, said, “I come here everyday for some fresh air early in the morning. But today I could not even breathe.”
The two lakes are looked after by separate departments. While the irrigation department is responsible for the works at Kapra, Hussainsagar falls under HMDA.

“Sewage diversion works are being carried out at Kapra at a cost of Rs 2.4 crore and some of the pipeline work will be done next week which will significantly reduce the stench,” said executive engineer, irrigation department, Khursheed Moinuddin.
For their part, HMDA officials, who have been entrusted with the rejuvenation of Hussainsagar, said multiple interventions have been carried out to restore the lake. “We stopped the bio-remediation process to rejuvenate the lake in June because of Ganesh immersion and rains. Now that monsoon is over, we have floated tenders to resume the clean-up process,” said an HMDA source.
However, the source admitted that there has been some algal growth and foul smell. “About 90 people and two trash collectors work round the clock to ensure the lake remains clean,” the source added.
Meanwhile, an art installation in the shape of a question mark, that was created on Hussainsagar during Hyderabad Design Week in October, has ironically become a major nuisance for officials. Sources said that the art work, made of around 3 lakh upcycled plastic bottles, was constructed to spread awareness on the hazards of single-use plastic. However, the bottles have disintegrated and are now floating all over the lake.
“The bottles used to create the installation started spreading after the bottom of the question mark was damaged. We do not know how the installation was damage, but we have started the clean-up process,” said an HMDA source.
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