This Lake In Bangalore Is So Polluted That It Caught Fire!

By Maariyah Siddiquee: 

What used to be lush green catchment area and a water-hole is now beginning to resemble the white lakes dotting the Kashmir landscapes. Seated at an elevation of 921m, the Bellandur Lake of Bangalore has hit headlines for ‘departing-from-the-natural’.

On Friday, 15th May 2015, the lake caught fire alarming the residents and the Police of the rising pollution the city is battling against. Continuous discharge of untreated sewage containing high amounts of oil and phosphorus has led to a production of white foam on the surface which resembles snow from at a distance. Due to the presence of an excessive slurry of industrial waste, the river reportedly developed combustible substances and burnt for hours last week.

The Supreme Court has pronounced a number of judgments in the past three decades, the failure in implementing these by the government as well as non-governmental organizations poses a bigger threat. This comes at a time when recently published World Health Organization data reports that serious respiratory diseases are on the rise in increasing proportions in cities having airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5). Alarmingly, [envoke_twitter_link]13 of the listed 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India[/envoke_twitter_link]!