Wetlands constitute vital components of the regional hydrological cycle. They are highly productive, support exceptionally large biological diversity, and provide a wide range of ecosystem services such as food, fibre, and waste assimilation, water purification, flood mitigation, erosion control, groundwater recharge, and microclimate regulation. They also enhance the aesthetics of the landscape and support many significant recreational, social, and cultural activities, aside from being a part of our cultural heritage. It was acknowledged that most urban wetlands are seriouslythreatened by conversion to non-wetland purposes, encroachment of drainage through landfilling, pollution (discharge of domestic and industrial effluents, disposal of solid wastes), hydrological alterations (water withdrawal and inflow changes), and overexploitation of their natural resources. This results in loss of biodiversity and disruption in goods and services provided by wetlands
Wetlands, natural and manmade, freshwater or brackish, provide numerous ecological services. They provide habitat to aquatic flora and fauna, as well as numerous species of birds, including migratory species. The density of birds, in particular, is an accurate indication of the ecological health of a particular wetland. Several wetlands have sufficiently unique ecological character as to merit international recognition as Ramsar Sites. Wetlands also provide freshwater for agriculture, animal husbandry, and domestic use, drainage services, and provide livelihoods to fisher-folk. Larger wetlands may also comprise an important resource for sustainable tourism and recreation.
Wetlands are under threat from drainage and conversion for agriculture and human settlements, besides pollution. They are the most threatened and fragile ecosystems that respond very quickly even to a little change in the composition of abiotic and biotic factors. Anthropogenic stress has severely affected these fragile ecosystems to a great extent which had led to a decline in the quality of water and reduction in the lake area (Ramachandra et al., 2001). The major threats to water resources are from point sources (sewage, industrial effluents, etc.) and from non-point sources (agriculture, urban, etc.). Apart from these, dumping of solid wastes, chemical spills, thermal pollution, acid precipitation, mine drainage, etc. also contribute.  Pollution affects the quality of the water and then destroys the other aquatic communities, disrupting the food web in these aquatic ecosystems (Ramachandra et al., 2007).

Urbanization is a form of metropolitan growth that is a response to an often-bewildering sets of economic, social, and political forces and to the physical geography of an area. It is the increase in the population of cities in proportion to the region’s rural population. The 20th century is witnessing “the rapid urbanisation of the world’s population,” as the global proportion of urban population rose dramatically from 13% (220 million) in 1900, to 29% (732 million) in 1950, to 49% (3.2 billion) in 2005, and is projected to rise to 60% (4.9 billion) by 2030 (U.N., 2005). Urban ecosystems are the consequence of the intrinsic nature of humans as social beings to live together (Ramachandra et al. 2012a; Ramachandra & Kumar 2008). The process of urbanization contributed by infrastructure initiatives, consequent population growth, and migration results in the growth of villages into towns, towns into cities, and cities into metros.
Urbanization and urban sprawl have posed serious challenges to the decision makers in the city planning and management process involving a plethora of issues like infrastructure development, traffic congestion, and basic amenities (electricity, water, and sanitation) (Kulkarni & Ramachandra 2006). Apart from this, major implications of urbanization are:

Unplanned urbanization has drastically altered the drainage characteristics of natural catchments, or drainage areas, by increasing the volume and rate of surface runoff. Drainage systems are unable to cope with the increased volume of water, and are often blocked due to indiscriminate disposal of solid wastes. Encroachment of wetlands, floodplains, etc. obstructs flood-ways causing loss of natural flood storage.
Wetlands due to their bioremediation potential could be  a viable alternative to conventional wastewater treatment plants, which are capital and energy intensive. The dumping of solid and hazardous waste nearby to the lakes may lead to severe pollution, leading to adverse health impacts and there will be a reduction in the economic value of their environmental services. The inadvertent introduction of some alien species of flora in wetlands has also degraded their ecology.
The current study attempts to understand the prevailing conditions and threats faced by the Chikkabettahalli Lake which is located in Adityanagar, Vidyaranyapura, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Objectives of the current study are