Hyderabad: The lakes in the city are not in the pink of health. Of the 185 lakes in the Greater Hyderabad limits, 24 have very low dissolved oxygen levels and hence are identified as dead lakes.
This means that the water from these lakes can be used only for industrial cooling, irrigation or controlled waste disposal and that it could not sustain aquatic life.
In a report filed on Tuesday at the National Green Tribunal, the Telangana state pollution control board (TSPCB) stated that it took three years for the Bum-rukn-ud-dowla’s water quality to graduate from below E category to E category.
Among the dead lakes are the Tirumalagiri lake, the DMRL lake in Kanchanbagh and the Mothkula Kunta in Machabollaram.
“The analysis of the lake samples collected in 2018 indicated the lake water quality was below ‘E’ class.
However, the present analysis of the sample of the Lake water collected by the Board Official on 18.03.2021 indicates that the lake water quality improved to ‘E’ class from below ‘E’ class,” the report said.
Even as there is an improvement in the water quality, activists like Amjed Ullah Khan of the Majlis Bachao Tehreek rued that the lake is being usurped by encroachers.
“Many parts of the lake have been eaten away by encroachments. They resort to first drying up the lake and then dumping soil to make space on the lake bank. Despite these issues, the departments concerned —the GHMC, irrigation, and revenue— aren’t proactive in stopping this from happening,” he told Deccan Chronicle.
As it turns out, the report filed by the TSPCB notes: “GHMC authorities have removed municipal solid waste, which were earlier dumped along the Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla Lake. The GHMC has removed construction and demolition waste, which were dumped along the Bum-Rukn-Ud-Dowla Lake earlier.”
City-based environmentalists like BV Subba Rao note that to prevent such discrepancies of the full-tank level from taking place, the water body must be demarcated properly.
