An engineer by education, Anand Malligavad is on a mission to give life to dead lakes in and around Bengaluru. The rejuvenation of lakes is done by identifying the original boundaries of the lake and then natural materials such as gravel and clay which come from the lake itself are used to create bunds and separations.
Anand Malligavad has been living in Bengaluru since 1996 and experienced that the city had lost a major number of water bodies. Since Bengaluru has become the hub of Information Technology, more and more people are shifting there because of their jobs. This urbanization played a major role in reducing the number of lakes to 80 from 280. Out of around 80 lakes, only around a dozen can be considered healthy or alive. Since, Bengaluru does not have any major river source around it, so it becomes crucial to keep the number of lakes in the city in check.
Due to the rapid development, some major infrastructure projects have replaced the existing lakes. Some lakes have also become the victim of encroachment while some have become the dumping grounds for domestic and industrial waste.
How it started
The continuous decrease in number of lakes started showing effects in the water table of the Bengaluru city. Some reports also suggested that the city is soon likely to run out of groundwater.
This realization towards the environment urged Anand Malligavad to become the savior of lakes in Bengaluru city in 2016, when he was working with Sansera Engineering.
The initial step was to create awareness among the public but that couldn’t make much of a substantial impact. Infact, the biggest challenges that he faced was the resistance from the encroachers who have been living around the area of lakes.
He changed the strategy. After extensively conducting research on lakes for almost six months, Anand Malligavad started working on the rejuvenation of Kyalasanahalli Lake near Anekal. The project that was started in April 2017 took just 45 days to revive the 36-acre water body spending 95 lakhs of CSR fund of Sansera Engineering.
To create the bunds and separations of the lake, only the natural material like clay and gravel coming from the lake itself was used. In June 2017, Anand Malligavad also planted thousands of saplings giving the luscious forest that it is today.
In the year 2019, Anand Malligavad contributed to the rejuvenation of three more lakes. He was also responsible for the plantation of four different types of forests – Miyawaki, grassland, traditional forest or wetland as per the needs of the locals.
Facing the challenges
Though there were many roadblocks in the completion of project, but on the biggest challenges was the resistance by the encroachers.
Even when the original boundaries of the lake were identified, the villagers who were living there removed it and the process of creating boundaries used to be done again. It was very difficult to bring the villagers on-board but with the help of some villagers, they were able to rejuvenate the lake. Now has come the time, when the villagers are responsible for the upkeep of the water body.
The fruitful results
The lakes that became healthy did wonders for the underground water level. For instance, the Kyalasanahalli Lake got filled by the monsoon after the rejuvenation and it has not dried up since then
With more and more lakes getting life, the borewells have also recharged and are giving excess water supply to the people living there. With the rejuvenation of around 18 lakes, around 800 borewells have been recharged.
Future plans
The 39-year-old engineer has given him a goal of giving life to around 45 lakes across the city of Bengaluru by the year 2025.
To know more about Anand Malligavad, please check – LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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