Bioremediation rejuvenates dying lakes, good bacteria does miracles

Hyderabad: In a bid to clean the polluted lakes in the city, over the years the government hired NGOs to try out bioremediation to treat the water. This long-term pilot project has yielded positive results throughout the years.
Bioremediation is a process of introducing ‘good’ bacteria and microbes to treat polluted water. Lakes such as Chinna Cheruvu in Neknampur, Yerrakunta in Shaikpet and Novotel Lake in Kothaguda have seen its Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels drastically come up due to this process.
For instance, in 2016 a private NGO Dhruvansh took up phytoremediation, an approach that uses plants to reduce toxicity in the lakes, at Chinna Cheruvu in Neknampur which then had BOD levels at 68 mg/l.The latest water quality results show that the BOD levels at the lake range between 8 and 10 mg/l.
“While the inlet of the lake has BOD levels of 92 mg/l owing to sewerage discharge, the floating plant islands located on the lake ensured in bringing the BOD levels down. We have been monitoring and maintaining the process for the last few years and the results have been consistent,” Madhulika who runs the Dhruvansh NGO explained.
Similarly in 2021, the BOD levels in Novotel lake stood over 100 ppm, making the 15-acre water body highly polluted. “According to the recent results, there has been an 80% improvement in water quality,” Madhulika added.
With the remediation process, marine life in both the water bodies have been restored with turtles populated across the 25-acre Chinna Cheruvu. Experts highlighted that a consistent bioremediation process for several other lakes could do wonders.
“Bioremediation can be employed for bigger lakes like Hussain Sagar. The solid waste must be removed manually but the organic pollutants can be eradicated using this method,” BV Subba Rao, technical member of the water domain, BIS told TOI.