'Varthur lake contaminating veggies'

BENGALURU: For a couple of years now, people staying near Varthur have been told not to consume raw vegetables. Reason: Filth from Varthur lake has been contaminating their veggie fields. The lake gets 200 million litres of sewage every day. With sewage treatment plants in most of the group housing complexes and apartments in the neighborhood non-functional, untreated water enters the water body.What’s worrying is that the lakebed is used to grow vegetables and green leaves that are sold at markets in Mahadevpura and other parts of Bengaluru. “We see frequent cases of gastroenteritis and typhoid. This is largely due to the polluted water body in the neighbourhood,” said Dr Radhika Thappeta, consultant, internal medicine, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Whitefield. “Lake water is used to grow veggies and the end products are also sold at Whitefield. Polluted water has been making the greens impure; they are certainly not as good as they appear to be. We tell patients to consume only boiled vegetables,’’ said a doctor and resident of the area. A few months ago, a member of citizen action group Whitefield Rising wrote to health minister UT Khader explaining the health hazards posed by the polluted lake and the resultant waterborne infections. But it remained at that.
Whitefield Rising’s analysis of the common ailments affecting residents threw up the following figures:
Gastroenteritis: 48% cases Skin allergy: 21% Typhoid: 20% Dengue: 11%
“Every other day, we hear of Whitefield residents suffering from gastroenteritis, dengue, typhoid, etc,” said Elangovan K, a member of Whitefield Rising.
ACTION-REACTION A day after fluffy toxic foam spilled on to the streets from Varthur lake, BWSSB swung into action. But what it did only made the situation worse. The board sprayed a tanker full of water on the frothing foam. Though initially it settled down, by 6pm, the foam began flying all around, causing much inconvenience to commuters. “The idea of pouring water on foam was ridiculous; they did it without understanding the problem. We visited the spot in the evening and saw foam flying all around. Now it’s all the more dangerous than what it was two days ago,’’ said Meha Senthal, member of Whitefield Rising and a resident of Varthur.