EFFECTS OF
LAKES ON

NATURAL RESOURCES

LAKES - History of Bangalore Lakes

Sorry, your browser doesn't support Java(tm).

Bangalore in earlier days was very well known as "The City of Lakes". Kempegowda, the founder of Bangalore, who had broad vision, established several tanks and lakes to impound runoff water, so that the same could be utilized for better purposes and also enhanced the beauty of Garden City. The farsighted founder dotted the city with numerous lakes/tanks in and around the city to ensure, that its citizens would always have abundance of water to drink, irrigate their lands and use for secondary purposes.

The earliest instance of Construction of tank in Bangalore dates back to the latter part of the 16th Century, when the founder of Bangalore, Kempegowda built the Ulsoor tank covering a huge area of 125 acres. The British administration then maintained and improved the lake which met the water needs of the city for as long as 200 years. Water from other lakes such as Sankey, Miller's, Sampangi tank was also used by the people for their water requirements.

The first instance of contamination of Ulsoor tank by sewage was reported way back in 1883 after which the use of lake water for purposes of public consumption was prohibited.

Records show that till 1960 there were 262 water bodies in Bangalore. Today the figures have declined to about 81 of which 34 are recognized as live lakes.

These figures denote a reduction of water bodies as high as 35.09%, while in terms of water spread area it shows a decrease of 8.66 percent.