Abstract: The present research work was carried out on the two most important lakes of Bengaluru city in India namely, Bellandur and Varthur lakes. The two lakes have been constantly in the headlines due to increasing pollution reports. This research was done to analyse the effect of these contaminated lakes on the groundwater and biological air quality of the surrounding areas. For this, we have compared the groundwater and air quality at a radius of 0 km and 2 km for both lakes. Our hypothesis was that the polluted lakes would affect the groundwater and air qualities to a greater extent near the lakes (0 km) compared to that at a greater distance from the lakes (2 km). To test this hypothesis, the biological water quality of groundwater and control samples was analysed by Biological Oxygen Demand, Most Probable Number and total bacterial count. The most significant observation was that the total bacterial count of the groundwater sample collected at the radius of 0 km from the Bellandur lake was found to be almost 9 times higher than the 2 km radius sample, which indicates potential contamination from the adjoining lake. Air quality analysis revealed more number of distinct bacterial colonies at 0 km compared to 2 km radius for both lakes, which suggests likely effect of the polluted lakes on air quality. Thus, our results indicate the very urgent requirement of remedial and restoration efforts to protect the two very important lakes of Bengaluru city and their adjoining areas.
Keywords: Lakes, Bengaluru, Groundwater pollution, Air quality, Bellandur, Varthur.
Title: Effect of Proximity to Polluted Lakes on Groundwater and Air Quality of Adjoining Areas
Author: Payel Sarkar, Syam Das, Trisha Abhay, Varsharani Joshi, Vinay C
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
Research Publish Journals
