Hebbal Lake is located in the north of

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

at the mouth of National Highway 7, along the junction of

Bellary Bellary, officially Ballari, in the eponymous Bellary district, is a city in the state of Karnataka, India. History Bellary was a part of Rayalaseema (Ceded Districts) which was part of Madras Presidency till 1 November 1956. The Ballari ...

Road and the Outer Ring Road (ORR). It was one of the three lakes created in 1537 by

Kempe Gowda Kempe Gowda I, locally venerated as Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda, or commonly known as Kempe Gowda, was a chieftain under the Vijayanagara Empire in early-modern India. He is famous for founding the present-day southern Indian city of Bangalore. E ...

. Like most lakes or "tanks" in the Bangalore region it was formed by the damming natural valley systems by the construction of ''bunds''. The spread of the lake in a study in 2000 was found to be 75 ha with plans for extending it to make up 143 ha. HebbalBoard

Limnology

The catchment area of the lake was found to be 3750ha and this area includes the residential areas of Yeshwanthpur, Mathikere, Rajmahal Vilas Extension,

Bharat Electronics Limited Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is an Indian Government-owned aerospace and defence electronics company. It primarily manufactures advanced electronic products for ground and aerospace applications. BEL is one of nine PSUs under the Ministry ...

and Hindustan Machine Tools Limited colonies. In 1974 the lake area was 77.95 ha and in 1998 it was 57.75 ha. Based on the rainfall of the region, the annual catchment was estimated at 15.2 million cubic metres with 3.04 million cubic metres during the

Northeast Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

, 10.12 million cubic metres during the

Southwest Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

and 3.28 million cubic metres in the dry season. The storage capacity of the lake was estimated in 2000 to be 2.38 million cubic metres with desilting raising it to 4.07 million cubic metres. Sewage inflow into the lake has altered the chemistry and biology of the lake. Most measured physico-chemical properties of the waters of the lake exceed the acceptable standards for sewage effluent discharge set by the Indian Standards Institute (Indian Standards: 2490, 1982).

Ecology

The lake is predominantly

eutrophic Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytoplan ...

due to the inflow of sewage. The nutrients support the profuse growth of

water hyacinth ''Pontederia crassipes'' (formerly ''Eichhornia crassipes''), commonly known as common water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America, naturalized throughout the world, and often invasive outside its native range.Typha'' in the shallow zone. The habitat is favoured by many species of water birds including large waterbirds such as the

spot-billed pelican The spot-billed pelican (''Pelecanus philippensis'') or gray pelican is a member of the pelican family. It breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to Indonesia. It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially larg ...

Eurasian spoonbill The Eurasian spoonbill (''Platalea leucorodia''), or common spoonbill, is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The genus name ''Platalea'' is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the ...

shoveller The shovelers or shovellers are four species of dabbling ducks with long, broad spatula-shaped beaks: * Red shoveler, ''Anas platalea'' * Cape shoveler, ''Anas smithii'' * Australasian shoveler, ''Anas rhynchotis'' * Northern shoveler, ''Anas c ...

, pintail,

garganey The garganey (''Spatula querquedula'') is a small dabbling duck. It breeds in much of Europe and across the Palearctic, but is strictly migratory, with the entire population moving to southern Africa, India (in particular Santragachi), Banglades ...

little grebe The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Lati ...

coot Coots are medium-sized water birds that are members of the rail family, Rallidae. They constitute the genus ''Fulica'', the name being the Latin term for "coot". Coots have predominantly black plumage, and—unlike many rails—they are usually ...

and

Indian spot-billed duck The Indian spot-billed duck (''Anas poecilorhyncha'') is a large dabbling duck that is a non-migratory breeding duck throughout freshwater wetlands in the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the red spot at the base of the bill that is ...

. The shallow zone supports sandpipers and other waders as well as

purple moorhen The purple swamphen has been split into the following species: * Western swamphen, ''Porphyrio porphyrio'', southwest Europe and northwest Africa * African swamphen, ''Porphyrio madagascariensis'', sub-Saharan continental Africa and Madagascar * ...

s, purple herons and

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

s. In the late 1990s, an ecological experiment was conducted with the introduction of ''Neochetina bruchi'' and ''Neochetina eichhorniae''

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They belong to several families, ...

s from Argentina to control the growth of water hyacinth. Biodiversity around the lake: File:Hebbal lake view2.jpg File:Purple Swamphen at Hebbal lake Bangalore.jpg File:Blyth's Reed Warbler.jpg File:Bloomed.JPG File:Palm dart hebbal.jpg File:Pale Billed Flowerpecker.jpg File:Ardeola grayii 009.jpg File:AriadneAriadneHeb.jpg File:Rhyothemis variegata.jpg File:Purple heron in a lake.jpg File:Calliandra brevipes 01.JPG

Management

Historically lakes in the Bangalore region were managed by the Public Works Department, but The lake was managed by

Karnataka State Forest Department Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

. The management was transferred in 2002 to the

Lake Development Authority The Lake Development Authority (LDA) in Bangalore, Karnataka, and its successor the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KCLDA) were formed in 2002 and 2015 respectively. Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority ...

, a non-profit society started with the aim of managing lakes in the Bangalore region. A project for lake restoration funded under the Indo-Norwegian Environment Programme at a cost of Rs. 27 million (US$700,000) led to major changes in the ecosystem beginning in 1998. Two artificial islands were created using the soil from desilting under this project. These vegetated islands have become the roost sites of many water-birds. Desilting was ostensibly taken up in 2003 as part of this program.Public Interest Litigation from ESG
TreeHebbalStoltenberg

Citizen protests

Water resources are of importance in urban areas and there are a wide range of uses. In 2004 the LDA began a process of "public-private participation" where private companies bid for the lakes to "develop and maintain" them for the next 15 years. This led to a major outcry from citizen groups. The lakes at Hebbal, Nagawara and Vengaiahnakere are leased for 15 years to East India Hotels Ltd., Lumbini Developers and ParC Ltd. respectively. The LDA leased out Hebbal Lake, one of the largest lakes in

, to East India Hotels (The Oberoi Group) for a period of 15 years for an annual lease amount of Rs. and an annual escalation of 1.5% in the amount, under the

Public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Adminis ...

policy. The developments included building a boating jetty, a handicraft and curio gift centre and an island restaurant. The private bidder was also expected to undertake desilting (as done already in 2003) and they were permitted to charge entry fees. The LDA claimed that this would increase the recreation options for the people but also encourage

eco-tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

, support bio-diversity, recharge

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

and help maintain eco-balance. Precedents set in the Intellectuals Forum v. State of Andhra Pradesh judgement of the Supreme Court of India (C A No. 1251/2006), state that "the tank is a community property and the State authorities are trustees to hold and manage such properties for the benefit of the community and they cannot be allowed to commit any act or omission which will infringe the right of the community and alienate the property to any other person or body". Opposing citizen groups point out that the privatisation scheme represents a clear contempt of court. The Karnataka Fisheries Department was asked not to renew the contracts with fishermen at Hebbal Lake in violation of the privatisation agreement that stated that the move would "respect traditional rights" of the users. The privatisation of Hebbal lake has been pointed out as a threat to the bio-diversity of these lakes, particularly the birdlife. The threats come from plans to introduce recreational facilities and human activities on the shore apart from draining and drying of the lake for various operations.

References

External links

LDA

Impact of privatization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hebbal Lake Reservoirs in Karnataka Lakes of Bangalore 1537 establishments in India