Providing a green belt for lakes in the city

As a part of the UWBe Lake Rejuvenation Campaign, to bring back the lost glory of once beautiful lakes in Bangalore. UWBe is mobilizing support from all quarters of the community.

The objectives of this campaign:
Restoration of quality of water in the lake; free from garbage, effluents and other pollutants
Revival of eco-system in and around the lake by creating micro climate for acqua and fauna
Increase ground water level in the vicinity of the lake leading to availability of potable water 
To bring about community ownership through active volunteerism  

One of the earlier activities planned, in our efforts to restore lakes took off pretty well last August at Herohalli Lake on Magadi Road. The occasion was marked by felicitation of Quintiles’ generosity to support Herohalli Lake Restoration work. Torrential rains did not hamper the volunteering spirit and there were about 50 enthusiastic volunteers from Intuit, Qwest and Quintiles. Altogether we planted about 50 tree saplings.

Recently, 60 enthusiastic employees of 3M contributed 3 hours of work force towards the maintenance of lake environment at Kaikondanahalli Lake. While the team removed weeds from around the lake, manure and dried leaves was added to the soil around existing saplings to increase the retentivity of moisture.

Currently, a team of eager volunteers from Thomson Reuters is in the process of giving the Uttarahalli lake a facelift. A group of about 60 volunteers rid the lake surroundings of plastic and other debris. Pits were dug and around 133 tree saplings were planted.

Exceptional support has been provided to United Way Bengaluru by BBMP and implementing partner Bangalore Environment Trust (BET) in this initiative. The BBMP engineers and BET have taken us through the history of the lakes, a guided tour of the types of trees and work done so far and the plans that lay ahead for the three lakes. The interactions have given the groups clarity and purpose of planting trees and the importance to engage with companies to sustain the maintenance of the lakes in Bangalore.