STATUS OF THE LAKES IN AND AROUND MELKOTE A CASE STUDY M.C. RAGHUVEER** **Student, II PUC, MES Kishore Kendra PU College, Bangalore Paper for the lake 2006: Symposium on Environment Education and Ecosystem Conservation, DEC 2006, IISc., Bangalore.

ABSTRACT  The study consisted in making field observations, status of the lake with reference to pollution and encroachment, salient features of the lake and simple lake water quality analysis. The tanks that were taken for study were  (i)(Kalyani (ii)Veda (iii)Dharba (iv)Palasa (v)Padma (vi)Mytreya (vii)Narayana (viii) Vaikunthaganga.  Based on the status suitable measures have been discussed for the upkeep of the tanks, taking into consideration local factors.

STATUS OF THE LAKES The number of lakes and tanks in and around Melkote (area of Case Study) has shrinked and gone down drastically. Some of the lakes have been utilised for development of houses as residential areas. Some of them have been neglected. Some of them have been misused.

MYTREYA TANK

VEDA TANK

FIELD OBSERVATIONS  Kalyani Tank: This is situated in the midst of Melkote village. This is fed by five wells in the tank. The size of the tank is 500x500ft. Average depth of the tank is 25 ft. Water is pale green in colour. The tank is well defined by steps on all sides. The tank is used for bathing.  Veda Tank: This is also called Vedapushkarni. The tank is thousand years old. This is mainly rainfed tank. The size of the tank is 50x50ft. Average depth of the tank is 20ft. Water is highly turbid with suspended matter and dead plants. This is situated to the south of the village. It has well defined steps allround.

 Dharba Tank: This is situated to the south of the village. This is mainly rainfed tank. The size of the tank is 30x30ft. Average depth of the tank is 18ft. Water is dark green in colour. The tank is covered by canopy of trees. The tank is not exposed to sunlight. The tank has well defined boundary of stone steps.  Padma Tank: Water is dark green in colour. This is situated to the west of the village. The size of the tank is 50x50ft. The tank is surrounded by thick vegetation on all sides. Average depth of the tank is 18ft. The Tank has well defined stone steps.

 Palasha Tank: This is situated to the south of the village. This is mainly a rainfed tank. The size of the tank is 70x70 ft. Average depth of the tank is 18 ft. Water is dark green in colour. The tank has well defined steps all round.  Mytreya Tank: This is situated to the north of the village. This is mainly rainfed tank. As it is close to dwellings, the tank is used for cloth washing and other domestic activities of the nearby houses. The size of the tank is 60x50 ft. It has an average depth of 10 ft. The tank has well defined steps in stone and it has stone boundary on all sides.

 Narayana Tank: This is situated to the north of the village. This is mainly rainfed tank. The size of the tank is 50x50 ft. Average depth is 15 ft. The tank has well defined steps on all sides. It has a stone boundary on all sides.  Vaikunthaganga Tank: The tank is situated to the south of the village. The tank is used for religious activities. The tank is in a dumbel shape with the connecting neck length of 200 ft. The length of the tank on either side is 20 ft. with a width of 15 ft. It is surrounded by rock formation.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE TANKS: ParametersKalyaniVedaDarbhaPadmaPalashaMytreyaNarayana Vaikunta Ganga 1. Water surface area (in sq. ft.) 2,50, Avg. Water Depth (in ft.) Annual Range of Temperature Age (in years) Presence of organic matter LowHighModerateLowHighLow

AQUATIC LIFE IN THE TANKS: Fish life sparsely present in Veda, Dharba, Padma, Mytreyi and Vaikuntaganga tanks. Fish life present in Kalyani, Narayana and Palasha tanks.

AQUATIC WEEDS IN THE TANKS Aquatic weeds were present in Veda, Padma, Palasha and Darbha tanks. Aquatic weeds absent in Kalyani, Narayana, Mytreya tanks and Vaikunthaganga tanks.

BIRD LIFE AROUND THE TANKS Bird Life present near Padma, Palasha, Darbha and Veda Tanks. Bird life absent near Kalyani, Mytreya, Vaikunthaganga and Narayana Tanks.

LAKE WATER ANALYSIS TankpHColour Suspended matter Odour 1. Kalyani9Pale greenmediumMedium 2. Veda12Pale brownhighStrong 3. Darbha11Dark greenhighstrong 4. Padma10GreenmoderateWeak 5. Palasha11Dark greenHighStrong 6. Mytreya11Dark greenlowModerate 7.Narayana9Pale greenlowModerate 8. Vaikuntaganga10greenhighstrong

DISCUSSION Awareness should be created in public regarding Tank sanitation. Regular maintenance and monitoring of the tanks should be carried out by local municipalities. Usage of tanks by cattle and people for domestic purposes are found to be the salient feature of some of the tanks observed.

Most of the tanks observed except Kalyani, Mytreya lacked proper maintenance. Due to lack of maintenance of the tanks fish life was minimum. As most of the tanks are more than 800 years old, removal of sediments has to be carried out. This is practiced only for the Kalyani Tank.

Proper Maintenance of the footpaths leading o the tanks to be taken care of since inaccessibility causes negligence. Tree Canopy Cover as in the case of Darbha Tank, Partial cover in Veda Tank to be trimmed for proper sunlight to the tanks. Renovation of Tanks to attract Tourism to be explored. Adoption of Tanks by Organisations to be encouraged.

CONCLUSION All the tanks have suffered deterioration of water quality. By proper environmental measures, quality of the Tank waters can be revived.

Missing species of fish in the tanks can be revived by aquaculture introduced into the Tanks. Regular maintenance and monitoring of the Tanks to be implemented. Detailed Lab Analysis to be carried out for further improvements.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thanks to the Principal, MESKK Junior College Parents, Brother & Aunt Villagers of Melkote CES, IISc. for creating this opportunity.

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