Bengaluru Engineer Brings 12 Dead Lakes Back To Life In Just 5 Years, A Look At His Story

If you’ve been enjoying the luxury of getting running tap water from the comfort of your home, then you, my friend, are lucky. While most of us flush out cold water waiting for warm water to sprinkle from the shower, thousands of our countrymen have to rely on water tankers to meet their daily requirements.


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The country’s water problem was so alarming that the city of lakes, Bengaluru was one of the 11 cities globally to run out of groundwater levels by 2020, reported Republic TV.

Taking cognizance of this grim situation, Bengaluru’s Anand Malligavad left his comfortable job as an engineer to become a full-time lake conservationist.

 

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A post shared by Anand Malligavad (@anandmalligavad)

Bengaluru’s own water hero is now eyeing rejuvenating the city’s dead lakes to combat its water problem.

“Bengaluru receives rainfall of 1,300 mm to 1,400 mm every year, but we are wasting that water by letting it flow into the drainage. We need to store this rainwater and reuse it as well as practice rainwater harvesting. Moreover, we need to rejuvenate the existing lakes and reservoirs in Bengaluru city,” Republic TV quoted him saying.

In just two years, the facade of the city’s ‘Vabasandra Lake’ changed. Here’s how it looked before:

 

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A post shared by Anand Malligavad (@anandmalligavad)

And here’s how it looks now:

 

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A post shared by Anand Malligavad (@anandmalligavad)

The mechanical engineer from North Karnataka has now become Bengaluru’s hope. The city that once housed 1000 lakes now only has a handful that can be called healthy.

“I started studying more about the lakes of Bengaluru and how we reached this point. I learned that at one point Bengaluru had close to 1000 lakes and many of them have been destroyed. I also came across the fact that several key infrastructure projects in Bengaluru including the Majestic Bus Stand, the hockey stadium, etc are built on land that was once a lake,” Malligavad reportedly said.

Therefore, he started researching the water bodies, looking for sustainable and effective ways to rejuvenate them. And after months of research, he started working on restoring the Kyalasanahalli Lake near Anekal spread across 36-acres.

“We started in April 2017, and completed the project in just 45 days spending Rs 95 lakhs,” Malligavad said.

 

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A post shared by Anand Malligavad (@anandmalligavad)

In 2019, the 39-year-old man rejuvenated three more lakes. That’s when he quit his job and dedicated his time entirely to the cause.

He turned the deadly poisonous lake ‘Konasandra Lake’ into heaven with the support of the locals and help from CSR activities by a company.

Before:

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After:

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Malligavad at this point had rejuvenated 11 lakes and aims at rejuvenating 45 lakes across Bengaluru by 2025 with the help of villagers, local bodies, NGO’s and interested companies.

This is ‘Nanjapura Lake’ spread across 18 acres that was rejuvenated in just 73 working days.

Before:

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After:

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A look at his 10th lake ‘S.Bingipura Lake’. The 28.1 acres that was full of sewage now has crystal clear water. It was brought back to life in the last 4 years (2017 to 2021).

 

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A post shared by Anand Malligavad (@anandmalligavad)

For him, 2021 was a great year as he was able to revive 4 lakes bringing his total to 12 in the past 5 years. Precisely, he rejuvenated 211 acres of waterbodies and aims many more in this year.

Kudos to him and all those helping to restore Bengaluru’s title of ‘the city of lakes’.

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