ENVIRONMENTAL SOUND TECHNOLOGIES (ESTs) FOR CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF LAKES

World over, five major environmental problems are identified for lakes namely 1) lowering of water levels, 2) rapid siltation, 3) acidification, 4) contamination with toxic chemicals and 5) eutrophication (Tauto Kira, ILEC/UNEP, 1991). Mysore region, a part of southern plateau in Karnataka accounts for about 60 percent of the 36,509 big and small tanks (CSE, Dying Wisdom, 1992). Due to a host of reasons, including lack of ecological planning and poor dependent community partnership, there is further deterioration of the lakes.

The Sixth International Conference on the Conservation and Management of Lakes, Kasumigaura'95 was held at University of Tsukuba and Tsuchiura Citizens Hall, Japan during 1995. It was attended by 421 participants from 74 countries apart from over 7800 Japanese delegates along with some 2,60,000 locals. Declarations on population and bio-diversity, impact of development projects on the environment, knowledge and technology transfer, partnership, education, integrated catchment management and common understanding were made. These declarations (S.Matsui, 1995) provide the required benchmark vision on lake management.

As an example for a working level vision, developments taking place in the areas of water supply and sanitation are good cases for reference. Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) have initiated Vision-21 addressing water supply and sanitation issues all over the world. Local Consultations (WSSCC, 1999) have already facilitated a useful dialogue among the stakeholders. Some of the priority issues taken up include: 1) Water quality monitoring, 2) Appropriate technologies and their choice in sanitation, 3) Rainwater harvesting, 4) Challenges to existing system, 5) Privatization issues, 6) Decentralization issues and 7) Role of Government and NGOs. Many action plans have been evolving such as 1) NGO action to monitor the efficiency of services from government and private providers, and to help innovate new service systems, 2) Promoting community ownership as a key factor for successful implementation, 3) Development of stakeholders' forums for operation and maintenance of systems, and 4) Hygiene awareness to sustain the planned sanitation. One possible pro-active initiative in the context of conservation and management of lakes could be the empowering of affected masses in the planning process.

In the management of urban lakes in particular, an emerging scenario in environmental sanitation from ecosystem's approach (Steven & Ingvar, 1999) has direct implication. This has been throwing enormous challenges for professionals. The approach clearly identifies "the wrong premises of human excreta as a waste suitable only for disposal and that the environment is capable of assimilating the waste". Many a time in urban and peri-urban areas, the natural assimilating capabilities of lakes are abused. About 90 percent of the water pollution problems are directly associated with municipal sources. This is the situation in spite of the formulation of the Prevention of Water Pollution Act 1972, which warrants a shift from centralized to decentralized waste water management. Centralized water supply and sanitation in the past, without adequate recovery and reuse options, that was taken for granted as state-of-the art systems are showing irreversible adverse changes.

Environmental impacts on health, resources and ecosystem are evident from the above centralized wastewater treatment practices. A preventive strategy with community level micro treatment interventions would be essential. Not withstanding engineering solutions to lake' problems, the role of the community both in rural and urban context needs to be well identified.

The uniqueness of Indian cultural ethos in the preservation of natural resources is evident. However, other priorities threaten lake preservation. Based on varied and diversified experiences gained during 1972-1992 all over the world, a number of sustainable strategies have been evolved. These strategies in essence are community-centered approaches. The premise is that, a sustainable community safeguards itself while not damaging that of others (David A Munro, 1991). It recycles materials, minimizes wastes and disposes them safely. This sustained perception is a reality in over 1300 best practices (UNDP, 2000).

In summary, six overlapping actions are needed to sustain the strategies for enabling communities to care for their own environments. In the case of lakes in India, the 73rd Panchayat Raj and 74th Nagarapalika Amendments to the Constitution of India provide the backdrop for specific action at various levels. They could be fairly integrated, and the essential action required at planning and implementation levels are:

Experiences in community participation in various sectors such as forestry, water and sanitation in the last decade are available. Action plans for effective community participation in natural resource management will always remain an unanswered question. The landless and dalits (downtrodden backward communities) are not part of the natural resource management due to various socio-political constraints. In case of lake management, stakeholder identification and partnership participation is reported to be one of the weakest. However, there are good practices in Karnataka State, especially in Kolar district (Somashekara Reddy, 2000). This has been possible wherever voluntary and formal programmes facilitate the local people to plan, conserve and manage the water bodies.

Environmental Sound Technologies (ESTs) encompass technologies that have the potential for significantly improved environmental performance relative to other technologies. These technologies protect the environment, pollute less, use resources sustainably, recycle more of their wastes and products, and handle all residual wastes in an environmentally acceptable way (IETC, 1999). ESTs should also be compatible with nationally determined socio-economic, cultural and environmental priorities and development goals. UNEP-IETC has come out with a database maESTro, which is an information tool. It contains information on a range of environmental sound technologies, institutions and information sources related to water pollution, environmental management, human settlements, hazardous substances, solid waste, waste water, water augmentation and more. Online networking of institutions, information systems and technologies involved with ESTs all over the world is possible through maESTro. Ecological engineering practices are useful with economical and ecological benefits.

Waste treatment both in solid and liquid form by interception of nutrients is essential for lake preservation. Replication of centralized, highly engineered waste management systems, resultant of sanitary reforms of the 19th century, have not been successful in many developing countries. Conventional and highly engineered wastewater management technologies often focus on electromechanical solutions that are capital intensive, requiring large investments for effective operation. Community-based Sets for domestic wastewater treatment and reuse (George Drowse, 1999) can be classified based on water consumption. More practical cases are available with low-cost, decentralized naturally based infrastructure that promotes the recovery and reuse of wastewater resources.

A review of the technological and management aspects of lakes leads to various options available for controlling nutrient input to the water bodies (IETC-UNEP, 1999). Generally, conventional macro wastewater treatment methods are cost intensive. Of late, non-conventional cost effective constructed wetlands and micro treatment plants are becoming popular. Table 1 furnishes a comparative list of methods with their effective capability in countering pollution along with their efficiency and cost. Combinations of these technologies are found most effective. Investment on electricity, labour, chemicals and maintenance, plus 10 percent of the investment to cover interest and depreciation per year is calculated as the running cost. To prevent unnecessary additional costs for restoration at a later stage, cost effective treatment options based on recovery, reuse and re-integration are crucial. However, in the context of restoration of water bodies, impact studies on cultural, social, economical and ecological aspects are vital. Planning must be based on data generated from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with wider participation of the key stakeholders such as the dependent communities.

TABLE 1: GENERALLY APPLIED WASTE WATER TREATMENT METHODS AND THEIR COSTS (IETC-UNEP, 1999)
BACTERIA:

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Ectones between lakes and terrestrial ecosystems are crucial for protection of the lake ecosystem against anthropogenic impacts. The transition area for a lake has the same function as the membrane for a cell: prevent to a certain extent the penetration of undesirable components. Therefore, it is crucial to preserve the shore ectones around a lake and the wetlands in the watershed, independent of the implemented management strategy. Any man-made construction should be omitted in a zone 50 to 100 m from the lakeshore line to keep the ectone intact (IETC-UNEP, 1999). Table 2 furnishes characteristics of wetlands and their ability adjacent to lakes.

The emergent macrophyte species, cattails, bulrush, reeds, rushes, papyrus and sedges, are proposed to be used in constructed wetlands. Submerged species can be applied in deep-water zones. Species that have been used for this purpose include coon tail or horn wart, redhead grass, widgeon, wild celery and water milfoil.

The self-purification ability of wetlands has found wide application in wastewater treatment several developing countries such as China, Philippines, Burma, India and Thailand. Much attention, for example, has been devoted to the stocking of fish cultured in biological sewage stabilization ponds. Experiences in China show that an average yield of up to 70 kg/sqm of water hyacinth may be obtained during the growing period from May to November. Such production would be able to absorb 1500 to 3600 kg nitrogen, 150 to 500 kg of phosphorus and 100 to 250 kg of sulfur per hectare. Water hyacinth is also a very good absorber of trace elements. Therefore, it is used to prevent the contamination of trace elements in the municipal wastewaters. But caution has to be exercised when water hyacinth with microorganisms and organic pollutants attached or coagulated on root surfaces is harvested to serve as feed in fish culture ponds, duck farms, pig farms and oxen farms. EIA is not a reality in Urban Planning Process causing irreparable economical and ecological losses (DTUDP, 1999). The neglected urban ecology affects the lakes. Ecological engineering (ICEE, 1996) practices with emphasis on decentralized community based nutrient interception treatment plants with recovery, reuse and partnership options are sustainable. In India, the guidelines set by Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organizations (CPHEEO, 1993) and the Ministry of Housing for sewerage and sewage treatment help the urban authorities in planning and design. Technology assessment and validation of various practices for ESTs can get rich dividends. Similarly, shallow sewerage and on-site systems are much cheaper and qualify for ESTs.

In many parts of India, oxidation ponds require about one sq m land per person. The cost aspect of sewage treatment by these simple methods has proven economical. One of the largest sewage fed fishpond (3300 ha) producing about 15000 tons of fish per year is in Calcutta.

The cost and inadequacy problems of large domestic wastewater plants lead to decentralized options. Waste water recycling, reuse and ground water recharge systems in the urban areas could be planned or even retrofitted suitably. To further optimize water resources it is essential here to de-link industrial and services demands on the surface and ground water sources as much as possible. Dependencies on rainwater harvesting and recycling for multiple non-potable uses are always sustainable options (UNEP/IETC, 1999).

For large cities, conventional activated sludge systems and trickling filters are found to be fair options. Biogas recovery from digesters is also favored. Aerated lagoons have often been preferred by local bodies for their simplicity. The local authorities must consider resource value of these urban wastewaters urgently in lake management plans.

Cost effective lake quality monitoring tools are available (E T Puttaiah, Shobha J and Jagannatha V, 1993) using biological indicators. Chlorococcales, desmids, euglenoids, diatoms and blue green algae are suggested as simple indicators to assess the water quality and ecological succession in the water bodies. Remotely sensed studies of the aquatic water quality assessment such as chlorophyll, sediment, dissolved organic matter and temperature could be complimented by these biological parameters as ground truths. Table 3 furnishes typical occurrence of phytoplankton for 1980-1990 for few lakes in Mysore District.

TABLE 3: OCCURRENCE OF PHYTO PLANKTON IN THE LAKES (ORGANISMS/LITER) FOR 1980-90

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Sl.No	Group	Kukkarahalli kere	Karangi kere	Mandakalli kere	Belikere
01	Chlorococcales	1933	21591	1027	631
02	Desmids	534	375	NIL	867
03	Diatoms	2464	136	7303	5273
04	Euglenoids	344	435	300	293
05	Blue greens	19673	17500	26573	2334

There are hundreds of ecological engineering practices found in Philippines, Burma, Thailand, China, India and Japan. These practices have distinct advantages over environmental engineering systems. Only three specific methods are listed here for example.

The use of water hyacinth in waste water treatment is an age old technique utilized over 1000 years ago in Sudan and is still being used today. In Castor, Senegal, the local NGO, ENDA-Tiers Monde, has built a wastewater collection and treatment system serving most of the community's inhabitants. The project has been successful in gaining support from community members, creating employment opportunities and treating wastewater to a standard high enough to use it directly for the production of food. The effluent is used to grow banana, apple, papaya, pepper, corn and a various other vegetables. A number of tree species are also grown. The biomass formed is composted and marketed for use in local gardens (Gregory D.Rose, 1999).

Duckweed is another aquatic macrophyte that is proving to be very efficient at the centre of a wastewater treatment system. Duckweed nutritional value is similar to soybeans. If grown on domestic wastewater free of heavy metals, it can be used as animal fodder and green fertilizer. PRISM-Bangladesh, a non-government organization based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has developed a highly successful duckweed cropping system for domestic wastewater treatment and production of fish protein.

Plant vegetation purification results are documented for Sannamaro River in Japan since 1986. The highest removal rate of nitrogen and phosphorus took place at a water depth of approximately 10 cm and the retention time of about 5 hours. At this time, it is possible to expect the elimination of approximately 40 % to 50 % of the total nitrogen and 50 to 60 % of phosphorus (Kasumigaura, 95). River shores have paddy fields like uptake plots. The marsh reeds reach a height of 2 to 3 meters after uptaking the nutrients.

Mysore urban development envisages a total development of 150 sq km by 2011 (RCDP, 1996). There are over 120 villages and an equal number of water bodies in the urban region. As a default, the love of the people and concern for their city, heritage and environment always remains. Mysore urban settlement remains no exception. In the legacy of Mysore rulers a unique voluntary development took place in 1992 at Mysore. The Mysore Heritage Trust® led by former CITB Chairman Late Shri. Jayadevaraj Urs and former Vice-chancellor, University of Mysore Late Shri. D V Urs, and over 28 professionals of the Mysore city came together to assess the threats for Mysore city and propose alternative plans. Over 8 workshops deliberated upon the Revised Comprehensive Development Plan (RCDP) of Mysore and gave out over 60 ecological and community centered development plans. These objections were submitted to Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) for incorporation in the RCDP. Amongst many suggestions, environmentally benign measures to protect water bodies in the urban development were specifically demanded.

Interestingly, during the same period ADB assisted urban development projects for Mysore were planned. The Mysore Heritage Trust® suggestions were available for the concerned departments. Yet, an ecologically viable urban development planning never featured in various interventions. This further, led to a classic case of ignoring active community participation and not facilitating local skill, knowledge and expertise. There was hardly any validation of ESTs. EIA was never felt a necessity. Towards the end of the project community is remembered and efforts are on to tie-up its ownership of planning concepts, which were alien, costly and ecologically not beneficial. Ecological engineering and decentralized waste management does not find place in the liquid waste management interventions. In fact some of the target dates in Agenda-21 on water supply and sanitation are violated in the project. Of late, the local people representatives have started raising objections about poor returns of the project. Because the technologically obsolete treatment methods are deployed, the economic losses alone are immense and could have been prevented by way of integrating the needs of the community. The philosophical perspective in the Consultants Inception report-ADB, 1997 is neither an integrated approach or appropriate. There are no references to what is demanded by the community at Mysore or global successful reference bench marks (UNDP, 2000). Paradoxically, impact studies are carried out at almost the end of the project implementation.

Sustainable urban development mandates judicious management of available resources. Further local Agenda-21 campaigns have been established in over 1300 local authorities all over the world. Preparing an action plan to implement LA-21 broadly includes at least six aspects: 1) Improving the local authorities' own performance on environmental issues, 2) Integrating sustainable development goals with existing policies and practices, 3) Raising local awareness, 4) Encouraging the participation of the public, 5) Forming partnership with a range of interests, and 6) Monitoring and reporting the progress.

The good news for and from Mysore is that since May 1998, a platform Mysore Local Agenda Network (MLAN), a civic and environmental NGOs and CBOs forum has been focusing on the need of Local Agenda-21 for Mysore.

The global good practices in the conservation and management of lakes could provide a vision and agenda (Dhvanyaloka/MET, 2000) based on indigenous experiences. These must be integrated as mandatory initiatives in the urban development plans. A specific agenda having both immediate and long term could be developed later with sustained stakeholder participation. Village/community level planning must be empowered to be a part of the lake management plan. Few specific action plans for lakes that could be taken up for the Mysore region in particular to Mysore urban covering an area of 150 square kilometers.

Existing surface water from the Cauvery river at 16 km from the city be linked to the groundwater. About 500 bore wells must be used in conjunction. Costs for pumps and piping for interlining the two sources are meagre. Use satellite imagery based hydrogeological data to augment ground water.

A vision and action plan to restore the drinking water quality in all remaining water bodies in 120 sq.km of urban Mysore must be initiated as in the past. Flora and other wildlife concerns are good but not adequate enough. On an experimental basis the action may start from Kukkarahalli Lake. Inverted filter galleries may be introduced in lakebeds and low-lying areas to augment ground water sources.

Incorporate rainwater harvesting techniques in all developmental works by MCC, MUDA, KIDAB, etc., and an incentive for rainwater harvesting in both individual and collective levels be given.

Gradually, delink supply of clean quality surface water supply to industries/service activities for process and operations and replace them by recycling of domestic/industrial wastewater. There are many public sector industries at Mysore region vicinity, which need to delink their water demands from fresh water sources.

Water is primarily supplied as a social welfare measure for irrigation and with little charge for urban needs. Water conservation is vital and economical management is essential. When each drop of water is collected, stored, treated, pumped and conveyed, water charges in an acceptable way must be introduced.

The best practices in cleaner productions are not deployed by all categories of industries for reasons of initial investments, barriers and so on. The CII and Chamber of Commerce need to sustain pro-active roles to evolve a time bound action plan that reduces water demands in all industries at Mysore.

Centre for Science and Environment, Traditional Water Harvesting Systems, pp 321-323, Dying Wisdom, 1992.

David A Munro, Caring for the Earth - A Strategy for Sustainable Living, IUCN, UNEP, WWF pp 57-63, 1991.

DTUDP,1999. National Seminar on Environmental Impact Assessment of Urban Development projects, Mysore, Nov 1999.

Dhvanayloka/MET, Vision and Agenda for Conservation and Management of Lakes in Mysore region, Dhvanyaloka, Mysore, Jan 22, 2000.

Gregory D.Rose, Cities Feeding People, CFP Report Series, Report 27, Community-Based Technologies for domestic waste water treatment and reuse: options for urban agriculture, Spring 1999 http://www.idrc.ca/crp/rep2/_e.html.

ICEE, 1996. Proceedings of the International Conference on Ecological Engineering, Beijing PR, 1996.

IETC-UNEP, Planning and Management of Lakes and Reservoirs: An Integrated Approach to Eutrophication 1999.

Jagannatha V, 1995. Recycle, recovery and reuse of waste waters to prevent eutrophication of urban water bodies, Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Conservation and Management of Lakes, University of Tsukuba, Japan, pp.1281-1284,Vol 3.,1995.

Kasumigaura Plant Purification, Kangto Regional Construction Bureau, Ministry of Construction, Japan 1995.

Puttaiah.E.T, .Shobha J and.Jagannatha, J., Biological parameters of surface water bodies for aquatic health monitoring and remotely sensed studies, National Symposium on remote sensing applications for resource management, Guwahati, Nov 25-27, 1993.

RCDP- Revised Comprehensive Development Plan, Mysore Urban Development Authority, Mysore 1996.

Somashekara Reddy, Integrated approach to rehabilitation of tank systems in Karnataka: Work shop proceedings Vision and Agenda for lakes at Mysore, Dhvanyaloka and The Mysore Environment Trust (R), Mysore Jan 22, 2000.

Steven Esrey and Ingvar Andersson, Environmental Sanitation from an Eco-Systems Approach, WSSCC, Vision 21- http://www.wsscc.org/vision21/docs/doc39.html. S.Matsui and W.D.Williams, (Ed). Lakes and Reservoirs Research and Management, 1995 1 : pp 147-149,1995.

Tauto Kira, State of the Environment of World Lakes- from the Survey by ILEC, UNEP. Symposium on Water Resources Management, 1991.

UNDP, 2000. Sustainable Development - Success stories; http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/success.htm.

Method	Pollution Problem	Efficiency (Maximum 1.0)	Costs ($ 100 Cubic meter)
Mechanical	Suspended matter	0.75-0.90	3 8
	BOD5 reduction	0.20-0.35
Biological treatment	BOD5 reduction	0.70-0.95	25-40
Flocculation	Phosphorus removal	0.30- 0.60	6-9
	BOD5 reduction	0.40-0.60
Chemical precipitation Al2 (SO4) 3	Phosphorus removal	0.65-0.95	10-18
	Reduction of heavy metal concentrations	0.40-0.80
	BOD5 reduction	0.50-0.65
Chemical precipitation Cash) 2	Phosphorus removal	0.80-0.95	12-18
	Reduction of heavy metal concentrations	0.80-0.95
	BOD5 reduction	0.50-0.70
Chemical precipitation and Flocculation	Phosphorus removal	0.90-0.98	12-18
	BOD5 reduction	0.60-0.75
Ammonia stripping	Ammonia removal	0.70-0.95	25-40

Method	Pollution Problem	Efficiency (Maximum 1.0)	Costs ($ 100 Cubic metre)
Nitrification	Ammonium---->nitrate	0.80 -0.95	20-30
Active carbon adsorption	COD (toxic substances)	0.40-0.95	60-90
	BOD5 reduction	0.40-0.70
Denitrification	Nitrogen removal	0.70-0.90	15-25
Ion Exchange	BOD5 reduction (proteins e.g.)	0.20-0.40	40-60
	Phosphorus removal	0.80-0.95	70-100
	Nitrogen removal	0.80-0.95	45-60
	Heavy Metals	0.80-0.95	10-25
Chemical oxidation (e.g. with Cl2)	Oxidation of toxic compounds	0.90-00.98	60-100
Extraction	Heavy Metals and other toxic compounds	0.50-0.95	80-120
Reverse osmosis	Removes pollutants with very high efficiency	100-200
Disinfection methods	Microorganisms	High cannot be indicated	6-30
Waste stabilization ponds	Microorganism	High	2-8
	Reduction of BOD5	70-80 %
	Nitrogen removal	50-70%
Constructed wetland	Reduction of BOD5	20-50%	5-15
	Nitrogen removal	70-80%
	Phosphorus removal	00-80%
* Presumes a pre-treatment (BOD5<_about 75 mg/l)
** The removal is dependent on the absorption capacity of the soil applied and whether harvest of the plants is foreseen.

Type of wetland	Characteristics	Ability to retain non-pollutants
Wet meadows	Grassland with water logged soil. Standing water for a part of the year.	Denitrification only in standing water. Removal of nitrogen and phosphorus by harvest.


Fresh water marshes	Red-grass dominated. Often with peat accumulation.	High potential for denitrification, which is limited by the hydraulic conductivity.


Forested wetlands	Dominated by trees shrubs. Standing water not always for the entire year.	High potential for nitrification and accumulation of pollutants provided that standing water is present.
Soil water marshes	Herbaceous vegetation usually with mineral soil.	Medium potential for nitrification. Harvest possible.
Bogs	A peat-accumulating wetland with minor flows.	High potential for denitrification but limited by small hydraulic conductivity.
Shoreline wetlands.	Littoral vegetation often of great importance for the lake	High potential for denitrification and accumulation of pollutants but area coverage.