Preservation of Mysore urban water bodies - Paper presented at the National Seminar on Water and Culture (2007)

This paper presents the status of lakes in Mysore. It gives emphasis to the Socio-Economic Natural Complex - Lake Ecosystems (SENCLE) model of lake preservation and management which includes socio-technical aspects of lake care.

The lakes of Mysore are facing threat because of urbanisation. Their preservation has been taken up by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Karnataka Urban Infrastructure and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC). The authors point out to major lacunae in the sanctioned land use pattern in Mysore that does not take into consideration, buffer zones, feeder canals and surrounding areas in the proximity of water-bodies that form an important part of the water-body ecosystem. Without bringing these areas into preservation it would not be possible to restore the lakes according to the authors.

A key point the authors note is that monitoring of existing lakes is still through the age old approach through revenue records that does not include any validation through advanced techniques such as community participation and remote sensing.

The paper lists out key issues facing lake preservation in Mysore; these include the need for comprehensive water management policy, use of advanced techniques for monitoring water-bodies etc. Using remote sensing techniques, tables, and charts the authors highlight the threats facing the lakes in Mysore. The authors highlight the disappearance of a number of lakes in Mysore, the size of lakes and the details of the lakes that include catchment area, water spread area, foreshore area and depth of silt. Pollution loads entering into various lakes is also presented.
 
The restoration plan for the lakes financed by ADB through KUIFC have 23 environmentally sound practices that include using SENCLE models for management of lakes, lakes planned as ecological security zones to improve urban eco-system, making organic fertiliser of weeds, use of remote sensing etc.

Some of the conclusions of the paper are lake restoration must start from generation of basic field data, controlled lake privatisation can help sustainability and need for more democratic participation in lake restoration.

This paper was presented at the National Seminar on Water and Culture organised by Kannada University and Sahayoga in 2007.

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