Hyderabad: RK Puram Lakes foam, Pollution Control Board has no plan yet

Hyderabad: After RK Puram lake, Parakhi Cheruvu and Uppal lake threw up toxic foam yet again after heavy rains, the Pollution Control Board (PCB) has begun to work on a detailed action plan to clean up the lakes.

Senior officials say the plan will be on lines of the Karnataka model of lake conservation and will have a detailed analysis on how to tackle the various kinds of pollution that affect these lakes and cause them to froth.

Environmentalist and lake conservation expert B.V. Subba Rao has been asked to make suggestions from his experience on working on Karnataka’s Bellandur and Varthur lakes.

“A good action plan needs a detailed catchment area analysis. Since every lake has different triggers of pollution and different environments around it, it’s necessary to do an analysis that will tackle the issue comprehensively,” says Mr Rao.

The PCB officials are also upset that there is no coordination between agencies on lakes. A senior PCB official said that the municipality must assume a larger role in dealing with sewerage issues as reports have established that untreated sewerage is causing the frothing.

Catchment area of Uppal lake is the North East Basin, which includes the Moula Ali industrial area.

Catchment area of RK Puram lake has no industries but a thickly populated residential settlement.