Single agency to maintain Hussainsagar likely

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, SEPT. 3. The State Government is contemplating setting up a single autonomous agency for maintenance of Hussainsagar lake.

The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, had informally given his nod to the proposal put forth by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board, three days back. The Board had suggested that the Buddha Purnima Development Authority be assigned the job of improving the highly polluted water body.

"A separate agency is the need of the hour to strengthen the ongoing efforts to cleanse the lake. With two or three agencies holding the reins now, coordination has become difficult. Even routine works involve lots of running around," the member secretary, APPCB, Mr. Tishya Chatterjee, said at a press conference here on Monday.

Sedimentation was the "most dangerous problem" plaguing the lake which had shrunk to a mere 5 sq. km area today, against its original expanse of 16 sq. km, 200 years back thanks to "human intervention". Every year, a whopping 30.12 lakh kg of solid material was being added to the lake bed in addition to 15,972 litres of dry paint, 8.012 lakh kg of distemper, 4.94 lakh kg of steel and 1.4 lakh kg of wood!

"The water body has no space for itself. Every year, it is being pushed up gradually. This cannot go on forever. The sedimentation has to be stopped lest we might have to face floods," he cautioned.

At the main idol immersion zone in front of NTR Memorial, the lead content had gone up to 3.58 mg/gram, against the standard 0.1 mg/litre of water! "Here, there is no industrial discharge. The only cause is paint used for idols," he explained. The volume of chromium, the cancer causing agent, was 2 milligram/gram of sediment. The biological oxygen demand was put between a very high 21 and a minimum of 7 whereas it should not be more than a count of 3. The total dissolved solids in the lake for the year 2000-2001 were put at 526-800 mg/litre!

"Such is the toxic presence that the lake bed is almost permanently damaged," he said, putting the blame squarely on the heavy metal content that was increasing due to immersion of Ganesh idols every year. As per calculations done during the last nine years, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had placed the lake "between C and D categories".

Clearing the sediments, at least near the idol immersion zones, was imperative for bringing the lake back to life. While the CPCB had recommended the construction of a porous mud wall near the immersion points and carrying out dredging operations way back in 1999, "nothing was done so far." Scouring the lake bed once in a year was imperative for enabling new sediments to settle and flushing out odour emanating deposits.

The construction of another wall to direct the inflows of sewage and the occasional industrial discharges into the Khairatabad sewage treatment plant was also crucial. "There is direct sewage release into the lake even today and the plant is unable to take the load," Mr. Chatterjee explained.

The Board also suggested the treatment of Musi catchment waste water through a decentralised system rather than a single unit at Amberpet which was withering under the heavy load. "Seven or eight small treatment plants can be set up at all major confluence points like Jeedimetla, Attapur, Nagole and so on so that by the time 400 MLD of water reaches the Amberpet plant it is cleaned at least once," he said.

"Consider all lakes in the catchment area as a whole, Hussainsagar being one among them. Improvements should be done in all the lakes," he said.

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