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| Google Maps with Inlets |
The meeting started at 8:15am sharp – unusually early for a Saturday morning. A group of 8 enthused people who live around the Junasandra lake were looking for help/advice on how they could go about rejuvenating the lake. Some homework had been done diligently – inlets marked, lake marked on Google Maps, conversations with the BDA that is responsible for this lake, some thoughts on how the lake could be taken up for rejuvenation. The key questions were around – how to identify/handle encroachment ? How/Where to get the relevant maps that mark the boundary of the lakes as well as the raja kaluves. What would be a good model for the lake ? Would it be ok to have boating ? Was it only to looked at as a place for bio diversity ? How would the maintenance of the lake be funded
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| Junasandra team – with Priya |
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| First thoughts on lake improvement |
2 points that came across quite strongly were that 1) it would be useful to have some place/document where a lot of this information about “how one could go about rejuvenating a lake” be available. 2) Even though all the infrastructure might be in place its only when the people come together, plan out their lake and then actually visit/use it that the lake actually comes to life.
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| What plant is this ? |
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| Junasandra + Devarabisanahalli team |
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| Full Gazebo |
The Devarabisanhalli lake team meeting was next. 9:15 sharp. Thanks to great time keeping by Priya. They had a different agenda. Their lake had overgrown with a certain kind of water plant. They got a sample for us to see (need help with the identification of the plant). There was waste water going into their lake from the nearby village as well as the neighbourhood and this had resulted in the growth of a “water hyacinth” like plant. There seemed to be very many more mosquitoes in their area and a few incidences of dengue. They were not sure as to what their next steps should be. How do they keep the sewage from coming in ? What do they do with the water that is already in the lake ? Was it likely that the lake was responsible for the rise in the number of mosquitoes ? The 2 key questions from this group were around how to keep the lake free of sewage as well as prevent mosquito breeding.
The “Lakes Project” hopes to address some such queries
Great to see citizen mobilization around lakes and addressing the wicked questions.
The plant in the photo could be water lettuce or Pistia.
See more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistia
This usually grows in freshwater but in altered water conditions shows weed like growth characteristics.