Restoration of a lake that lies within an urban sprawl is indeed a complex matter, particularly which has been heavily contaminated with incursion of sewage and other forms of pollutants. It is not a task that can be accomplished in   less time, particularly, the de-silting part. De-silting a contaminated lake, saturated with pollutants, needs very careful planning and coordination, particularly the transportation and eventual disposal of the recovered silt. This paper discusses the three major methodologies for de-silting an urban lake, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each, by taking the example of Ulsoor Lake of Bangalore City. The three methodologies are, firstly, excavation of silt from the drained out lake bed, secondly, dredging the lake with a small road transportable inland cutter suction dredger and pumping the dredged silt to a suitable disposal site, directly to final destination or to an intermediate site before relocating elsewhere by other means, and lastly, dredging the lake with a clam-shell grab dredger, slowly and delicately and transporting the dredged material in tipper trucks to a suitable disposal site.            

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