STATUS OF THE LAKES IN AND
AROUND MELKOTE
A CASE STUDY
M .C. RAGHUVEER**
**Student, II PUC, MES Kishore Kendra PU College,
Bangalore 560003
email:[email protected]
Paper for the lake 2006: Symposium on Environment
Education and Ecosystem Conservation,
28-30 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:
Parameters
Kalyani
Veda
Darbha
Padma
Palasha
Mytreya
Narayana
Vaikunta
Ganga
1. Water surface
area (in sq. ft.)
2,50,000
2500
900
2500
4900
3000
2500
800
2. Avg. Water Depth
(in ft.)
25
20
18
18
18
10
15
5
19-26
19-26
19-26
19-26
19-26
19-26
19-26
19-26
800
1000
800
800
800
800
800
800
Low
High
Moderate
Low
High
Low
Low
Low
3. Annual Range of
Temperature
4. Age (in years)
5. Presence of
organic matter
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
Padma, Palasha and Darbha tanks.
Veda,
• 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
pH
Colour
Suspended
matter
Odour
1. Kalyani
9
Pale green
medium
Medium
2. Veda
12
Pale brown
high
Strong
3. Darbha
11
Dark green
high
strong
4. Padma
10
Green
moderate
Weak
5. Palasha
11
Dark green
High
Strong
6. Mytreya
11
Dark green
low
Moderate
7.Narayana
9
Pale green
low
Moderate
8. Vaikuntaganga
10
green
high
strong
Tank
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.
THANK YOU