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Preserving lakes, a tough task in Mysore

MYSORE FEB. 1. As a resource base, they have provided sustenance to millions down the ages; and as a landscape they have spawned cultural links and traditions. The landscape in question providing economic and cultural links are the lakes and other forms of water bodies.

These very heritage values and cultural links that are on the verge of being snapped while the resource base supported by them is increasingly coming under strain in Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya districts, as also in other parts of the State.

And what is more, the importance of wetlands and their relevance had been lost on the urban population where it had been grossly mismanaged and reduced to bodies that receive industrial waste and domestic sewage. In rural areas, wetlands are languishing because of importance accorded to canal irrigation system.

But it is these water bodies which will be the focus of attention throughout the world on Saturday, which is being observed as the World Wetlands Day. The day marks the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands that came into being on this day in 1971 at Ramsar in Iran. It was an effort to initiate an international movement to safeguard and conserve the most productive and significant eco-system that sustains human population -- the water bodies or the wetlands.

And significantly, the Bureau of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which will meet in Valencia, Spain, in November will focus on cultural values of wetlands as an important feature that needs to be taken into account in the effective management of these eco-systems. Hence the theme for this year's World Wetlands Day celebrations is ''Wetlands: Water, Life and Culture''.But the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands -- of which India is a signatory -- calls for introspection at the state of affairs pertaining to water bodies. A case in point is the state of water bodies in Mysore and Chamrajanagar districts.

Environmentalists here point out that destruction of wetlands does not mean a mere loss of traditional occupation including fishing, harnessing of natural resources, and cultural links.

But they break the natural cycle entailing groundwater recharge, flood control, recycling of nutrients, pollution control, and housing endangered species.

Economic utilities apart, lakes and rivers as landscapes have inspired poets and writers and continue to mesmerise people. In Mysore, the Kukkarahalli Lake -- in the news for all wrong reasons recently -- inspired poet laureate Kuvempu while the Lingambudhi Lake was close to the heart of A.N.Murthy Rao.

A series of disasters have struck the water bodies in Mysore which led to death of birds in Lingambudhi Lake, fishkill in Yennehole and Kukarahalli. After a protracted battle with the authorities, a group of environmentalists and citizens convinced the Mysore District administration to constitute the Mysore Lake Protection Society which has a great challenge of striking a balance between conservation and development.