Rachenahalli is one of the few living lakes of Bangalore, in the north of the city. It is connected to water bodies upstream and downstream, particularly Jakkur Lake in the northeast. Both of these lakes have been rejuvenated, at substantial cost, by the Bangalore Development Authority over the last decade. A sewage treatment plant with a capacity to treat 10 million litres a day was set up north of Jakkur Lake by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Water from the sewage treatment plant flows into Rachenahalli when Jakkur Lake overflows during monsoon.
Rachenahalli is an example of a thriving social ecological system—it continues to live and to support life.
Rachenahalli is an example of a thriving social ecological system—it provides natural resources to people living around it, acting as a sink for fisher folk cleaning fish or for women doing Sunday laundry and receiving treated sludge from new residences around the lake, as well as from an upstream sewage treatment plant, the lake continues to live and to support life.
The author and photographer, Sumetee Pahwa, has been living in the vicinity of the lake for the last three years, since her return to India from Cape Town. The lake and its living waters inspire and intrigue Sumetee. More recently, she has taken an active interest in the many ways that people derive resources from the water body and its surrounds.
Sumetee Pahwa Gajjar, PhD, is a Cape-Town based climate change professional who has contributed to scientific knowledge on transformative adaptation, climate justice, urban EbA and nature-based solutions. I currently work at the science-policy-research interface of climate change, biodiversity and vulnerability reduction, in the Global South.
My research interests continue to be focused on urban sustainability transitions, through collaborative governance, just innovations and climate technologies.
One thought on “Photo Essay: Life and Water at Rachenahalli Lake”
Sewage water is also added at a place in Rachenahalli lake which goes un noticed to the public and the authorities concerned. Water hyacinth is slowly but surely emptying the water in the lake. Better not to talk about animals in the cities.They are put to lot of hardship.They are made to live with all sorts of things in their stomach Pet animals poop is not thought as health hazard by Bangaloreans People of Bengaluru are SILENT SUFFERERS
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Sewage water is also added at a place in Rachenahalli lake which goes un noticed to the public and the authorities concerned. Water hyacinth is slowly but surely emptying the water in the lake. Better not to talk about animals in the cities.They are put to lot of hardship.They are made to live with all sorts of things in their stomach Pet animals poop is not thought as health hazard by Bangaloreans People of Bengaluru are SILENT SUFFERERS