This is how Bengaluru International Airport revived a 300-acre dead lake
- Water from airport runway helps revive Betta Kote Lake in Devanahalli.
- The lake water is now also being used for drinking purpose.
- KIA plans to send the rainwater from the second runway to recharge the ground water.
FollowBengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) recently had received the highest level of environmental achievement available to airports; now it has added another feather to its cap. It has revived a lake that has been dead for the last 20 years.
The 300-acre Betta Kote lake will now not only supply water for irrigation and drinking purpose in Devanahalli, but it will also recharge the wetlands and lake surroundings.
Thanks to the KIA initiative through which the airport authorities pumped water from its runways, the villages surrounding the Devanahalli will no more face water shortage.With the Betta Kote lake breathing a new life, the villagers are hopeful that it will also revive the borewells in the area.
Vishwanath S, water conservationist who assisted the international airport authorities in the rejuvenating the lake told Asianet Newsable that it was with the help of KIAL that lake bed was revived.
"The water from the first runway has already been diverted into lakes and it is very clean water. The runway runs more than half kms and all rain water directly enters into the lake and with the second runway in the process, this water will help in recharging the ground water surrounding the lake and fields. The initiative was done by KIAL authorities," he said.
Ramprasad, Friends of Lakes, convener lauded this initiative of the KIAL and said villages are now using this lake water for drinking purpose. “The dairy farming and fishing in the lake has increased. This development model is good and it should be used in other areas before taking development projects,” he said.
Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation and lake activists said that this model should be replicated in other areas as well. “Throughout Bengaluru, any further development of layouts should be on the lines of Jayanagar. The layout was built keeping the future in mind and this has not disturbed in water recharge and also water supply. There should be holistic approach in dealing with lakes and water bodies and KIAL has done a good job in this regard,”
