This story is part of
Spotlight- Karnataka
Why fish are dying in Bengaluru’s
lakes sem
Fishkill is a clear indication of the deteriorating health of the lake ecosystem.
Bengaluru has reported 16 major ones in this year. The Hindu finds out what is
causing this and how they can be prevented
September 29, 2023 08:00 am | Updated 08:05 am IST
‘COMMENTS SHARE (9 READ LATER“Mass fishkill is a clear indication of the deteriorating health of the lake ecosystem. It’s a
symptom. This only means the city’s lakes are just going downhill over the last few years,”
said V. Ramprasad, a co-founder of Friends of Lakes (FoL), a citizen coalition of lake
conservation activists.
Kavita Kishore, a resident of HSR Layout, a posh neighbourhood in the south-east part of
the city, involved in the rejuvenation and conservation of Lower Ambalipura Lake, a small,
well-preserved lake in the locality, was shocked to wake up to thousands of fish floating
dead in the lake on July 22. “Our lake is well preserved and maintained. At least in the last
decade, we never faced a fishkill in our lake. It was such a horrific sight to behold. An
estimate put it at around 30,000 fish Killed that day,” she recalled.
The lake community has ensured all the apartment complexes around the lake have
functioning sewage treatment plants (STPs) and no raw sewage is let into the lake. But a
sewage pipe in one of the communities had broken, and raw sewage was being let into the
lake, “We identified and fixed it. Now the lake is back to being healthy, and no fishkill has
been reported,” she said. However, she said untreated water continued to flow into the lake
from the neighbouring Haralur village, and they were working on it.
The science behindFishkill often happens when the dissolved
oxygen (DO) — the amount of oxygen in
the water — reduces drastically, choking
the fish to death. Depleting DO is caused
by a higher biochemical oxygen demand
(BOD, often because of a high
concentration of nutrients and organic
matter that decomposes in an anaerobic
condition, releasing ammonia or algal
blooms in the water body.
While aquatic plants release oxygen as a
byproduct of photosynthesis during the
daytime, they also absorb oxygen at night.
This creates a DO crisis in water bodies,
mainly after the sun goes down. So, most
fishkill occur at night and are sighted early
in the morning.
A healthy lake water ecosystem usually
does not get into this DO crisis mode. But
ina city like Bengaluru, where lakes have
become dumping grounds for raw sewage
and other effluents, many lakes have a
high concentration of nutrients and
organic matter, leading to high BOD,
creating a DO crisis, choking the fish to
death.
Credit: special arrangement
Inlet of raw sewage into lakes
“Three years ago, we surveyed 193 lakes in the city and found raw sewage entering 92% of
the lakes, The situation hasn't changed much since then, Raw sewage is the main factor
for fishkill in the city’s lakes. Thus, it is man-made,” said T.V, Ramachandra, who heads the
Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, in the city.He said he had been studying fishkill as a phenomenon in the city’s lakes since at least
1994, when it was reported in Sankey Tank, one of the premiere British-built tanks in the
heart of the city, “The reasons have always been anthropogenic,” he said. Apart from the
inlet of raw sewage, algal blooms and the difference in water and atmospheric temperature
also lead to fish kills, he added.
Bengaluru, its lakes and fish are eventually paying the price for the rampant horizontal
development of the city, especially over the last two decades. Most fishkills are reported
from lakes in outer zones that have seen unregulated growth due to population explosion
in these areas that house the tech corridor and office spaces. Civic infrastructure, like a
basic underground drainage system, is still absent in many places.
Most fishkills in the city’s lakes are reported in summer and monsoon months. In
summer, the temperature rise escalates it. During the monsoon, rains wash the silt from
storm-water drains (SWDs) in. These SWDs are meant to be feeder channels to lakes for
rainwater but also carry garbage and raw sewage into the lakes. The silt from SWDs is rich
in phosphates, nitrates, and organic matter, leading to a high BOD resulting in a DO crisis.
The same high concentration of nitrates and phosphates in the silt on the lake bed
eventually leads to the release of methane gas, causing fire on the lakes, like the city
regularly saw in Bellandur Lake. It has stopped since the rejuvenation and desilting of the
lake bed is underway. If there is churning and turbidity in these lakes, they also froth, like
in Bellandur and Varthur lakes. The images of Bellandur Lake, the largest in the city, on
fire hit global headlines some years ago. A fishkill is one of the first signs of the
deteriorating health of a lake ecosystem, which, if not addressed, may also eventually
result in fire or frothing.
Acry for help not heeded to
Data compiled by Raghavendra B. Pachhapur, Senior Lead (Projects), ActionAid
Association, an international non-governmental organisation working for environmental
justice, among other causes, shows repeated fishkills in a few lakes in a short time.
For instance, data shows three fish kills reported in Kothanur Lake, in J.P. Nagar, in South
Bengaluru, in February, April, and July this year, and thrice in 2022. “It is a cry for help
from the lake ecosystem to make a course correction to reduce pollution. The raw sewageinlet is the reason for repeated fishkills in
this lake. The city’s civic body has served
notices to Bengaluru Water Supply and
Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in 2022 to finda
permanent solution to fix this lake, to no
avail to date,” said a senior civic official.
There is no STP at Kothanur lake.
Beyond capacity
In another instance, Kundalahalli Lake in
K, MURALI KUMAR the city’s tech corridor near Whitefield
and Bhattarahalli Lake near K.R. Puram,
which have functional STPs, have also reported fishkills multiple times in 2022 and 2023.
It happened in Kundalahalli lake thrice in June and September this year, and in
Bhattarahalli lake in June and August this year and June last year. “Fishkills in lakes
served by STPs is concerning. They only mean either STPs are not functional or the sewage
inflow is beyond the processing capacity of the STP serving the lake,” Pachhapur said.
Water quality analysis at Kundalahalli Lake by Action Aid following a fishkill in June 2023
showed a high concentration of faecal coliform bacteria, indicating raw sewage inlet into
the lake,
Arvind Keerthi, a resident of Kundalahalli, set up two STPs totalling 750 Kilo Litre Per Day
(KLD) capacity at the Kundalahalli Lake as a private initiative through Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) funds in 2014-15. “Of the two units, one is working fine, processing
nearly 400 KLD of sewage and letting in treated water. However, the inflow of raw sewage
is much beyond the capacity of the STPs at the lake to process, This has led to fish kills,”
he said.
Meanwhile, Ramprasad of FoL said STPs installed by Bangalore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board (BWSSB) did not have a Biological Nutrient Removal (BNR) system, which
meant sewage processing did not remove phosphates and nitrates before letting them into
the lake. He said that high concentrations of these nutrients can also lead to fish kills.
Data released by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board in July show higher
concentrations of both phosphates and nitrates in many lakes.Asenior BWSSB official said the Board had initiated a project to install BNR systems in
their STPs. Meanwhile, the city has a long road ahead before it can treat all raw sewage
before letting it into the lakes. For now, the city’s civic body, which is the custodian of the
lakes, has built diversion channels to take raw sewage away from the lake. However, civic
officials concede that this was not foolproof and sewage often mixed with lake water,
especially when it rains.
Fishing dangers
Narayana Krishnappa, who has the
contract to rear fish in Lower Ambalipura
lake — won through a tendering process
by the Karnataka Fisheries Department —
suffered a loss of over %6 lakh as over
30,000 fish died earlier this month. “The
Fisheries Department issues tenders, and
these five-year contracts do not include
Fishkill at Ulsoor Lake in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit:
‘SUDHAKARA JAIN any clause for compensating us for fish
kills, which happen because of factors
beyond our control and because of the negligence of authorities,” he lamented.
However, a senior civic official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the water quality
of the city’s lakes was not suitable for rearing fish, and the Fisheries Department must
stop issuing contracts for fish rearing. “Fish reared in these lakes are definitely not
suitable to be consumed,” he said.
Ramachandra, of IISc, said their studies had shown that vegetables grown by the lakes,
using water from here, had higher than permissible concentrations of heavy metals,
leading to several health issues. This also raises questions about the effects of eating fish
reared in these lakes.
It is shocking that 33 of 61 lakes surveyed for water quality by KSPCB in July 2023 have
been categorised as “D”, unfit for drinking, but cleared for fisheries. However, Pachhapur
said most of these water samples were collected during “office time” when DO in water was
higher. “The slide of a lake from Category D to Category E, essentially a dead lake, is swiftand often goes unnoticed. Fisheries Department should allow fishing only in categories A,
B, and C lakes,” Ramprasad said.
The way ahead
While the city's civic body is the custodian of lakes, the responsibility to ensure raw
sewage is not let into them is with BWSSB, even as KSPCB's is to check pollution of all
water bodies. The Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority owns these
lakes. “A labyrinth of agencies has only meant nobody is held responsible,” said
Pachhapur.
“We need to book cases under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,
and send some senior officials to prison. Only then will we start seeing some action on the
ground,” said Ramchandra.
“Fishkill is stoppable provided there is effective monitoring of water quality and our SWDs
are free from sewage and are monsoon ready. We need to ensure raw sewage is not entering
the lakes. KSPCB has begun making public the 25 parameters that are considered when
water in 91 lakes is tested for their quality every month. This data helps us understand
what is happening in each lake, empowering us to make specific interventions. Preventing
fishKills is also restoring the health of the lake ecosystem,” Pachhapur said.
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