It is discovered that white foam is being released from the Bangalore Vathur Lake has found a partner-in-crime in city’s Parka Cheruvu Hyderabad. The foam is disrupting the people in the city. This foam can cause skin and respiratory problems, as it is containing PPhosphorus from sewage and industrial pollution in the Lake.
Telangana State Pollution Control Board said that it is not the industrial effluents but municipal waste being dumped into the lake that is causing the foam. A senior from Telangana State Pollution Control Board official said, “We took water samples from the site. On preliminary analysis we can say that industrial waste is not the reason as the Chemical Oxygen Demand of water is not very high, which happens in a case of industrial pollution.”
He also says, “We have observed high amounts of Linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS) in the water. LAS is an indicator of detergents in water and the high presence of it means that there is a lot of untreated sewage water being let into the lake from localities located upstream. When the water from Lake gushes with force into the drain, due to the presence of detergents, a foam is formed. This has been observed recently when there was a lot of foaming in the Musi River, due to high LAS levels.”
G Gopal, the secretary of Dharani Nagar Residents Welfare Association, said, “We have on several occasions complained regarding the issue to all government departments but no action has been taken yet. We suspect that industries located in Jeedimetla must be dumping industrial waste illegally in the lake. We have several times asked for routing sewage through Sewage Treatment Plants but there has been no response from GHMC.”
Madhulika Choudhary, an environmental activist said, “Last year too there were instances of foam occurring on the lake and we have been complaining since then to various government authorities, including Telangana State Pollution Control Board, but there has been no action.”