Restoration of Tanks in Bangalore Metropolitan Area: Issues and Guidelines
S. Gopi Prasad1, B. Shankar2
1S. Gopi Prasad, Urban Designer & Director, Ides Consulting Private Limited, (Bangalore), India.
2B. Shankar, Associate Professor, Urban and Regional Planning, Institute of Development Studies, University of Mysore, Mysore, (Karnataka), India.
Manuscript received on 20 January 2016 | Revised Manuscript received on 30 January 2016 | Manuscript published on 30 January 2016 | PP: 63-67 | Volume-4 Issue-6, January 2016 | Retrieval Number: F1528014616©BEIESP
Open Access | Ethics and Policies | Cite | Mendeley | Indexing and Abstracting
© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Abstract: Bangalore Metropolitan Area, India, is characterized by the integral presence of water bodies (Lakes/tanks) both manmade and natural, with over 400 in total and with over 90 tanks within the metropolitan area and City corporation limits respectively. The city has witnessed unprecedented growth at 3.25 % in the previous decade, while registering a 4.46 % annual growth rate in the past decade. The growth has led to a sprawl and led to indiscriminate use of land, encroachment of water ways/water bodies. The neglect by the authorities coupled with the letting of the sewage and waste water into the water courses have led to environmental degradation and loss of resources. Over the past decade, there have been series of policy and practice interventions adopted by the Government leading to the conservation and rejuvenation of the tanks with varied success. The efforts have been to direct the interventions to serve: better land use management and integration of open spaces. This being tackled through the formal land use plan documents such as the Master plan and protection from encroachments through use of legal instruments; better storm water management allowing the tanks to act as detention ponds and prevent flooding; integrating the tanks with the urban water supply system with provision of utilizing the tanks for storage of re-cycled water and supply reservoirs and improvements to surrounding urban environment and urban ecology/ bio diversity. The paper review various interventions by highlighting the significant results accrued and provides important directions for the strengthening the interventions with a mix of regulatory, ecological, technical and financial parameters at various levels through institutions.
Keywords: Tanks, Restoration, land use, Management Policy Guidelines.
Scope of the Article: IoT and Smart City Application Systems