Environmental status of some lakes of Silicon city, Karnataka, India

The lakes of the silicon city of Karnataka are man-built generally for hydrological reasons. The ecological roles played by lakes are very vital, in providing drinking water, irrigating agricultural fields, fishing, washing, brick making, and supporting a variety of birds, growth of many types of vegetation, and other habitats. The impact of water bodies on the city climate is also significant: manmade landscape was beautiful once upon a time, but now these lakes are polluted by domestic waste combined with sewage and causes organic pollution because of higher concentration of nitrates and phosphates, which encourages the growth of obnoxious weeds, such as water hyacinths. These floating weeds prevent the penetration of sunlight, which is essential for all life forms, and adversely affect aquatic life and upset the delicate equilibrium of the wetland ecosystem, and these industrial effluents to lakes pollute and contaminate water, which in turn percolate to aquifers and affect groundwater sources. To conserve these valuable resources from further deterioration, there is a need for regular monitoring of the aquatic ecosystem. Copyright © Enviromedia