BHUBANESWAR: With many areas in the Capital city facing water crisis during summer, renovation of ponds and other water bodies has become a necessity. To address the issue, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has earmarked Rs 5 crore for renovation and beautification of ponds in the city this year. Altogether, 20 ponds in the Capital city are being maintained by the BMC. Though every ward in the city has at least one or two ponds, most of them are in a bad shape. With dumping of garbage, water in many of the ponds is heavily polluted and choked by hyacinth growth. In some cases, these water bodies are nearly filled up following soil erosion on all sides. Sources said rampant dumping of solid waste by local residents has polluted the pond water in most of the areas. This apart, in many ponds flow of the stream is getting increasingly weak as the ponds have not been cleaned or dredged for years. Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said works on 10 ponds were already underway at the cost of `2 crore. Some of these ponds are at Patia, Nayapalli, Gandamunda area under ward 30, Laxmisagar and Jharpada. In the current year, works will be undertaken in Pokhriaput, Jagmara, Ghatikia and Sampur. The money will be spent on construction of retention walls around the ponds and removal of the unwanted vegetation in these water bodies. Sources said these ponds are also facing the problem of eutrophication which results from water hyacinth and algae reducing the oxygen content in water. The ponds would also be dredged to add to their depth so that they can carry more water.“The project work would include construction of steps leading to the banks of the ponds and bores around them to extract groundwater to keep the ponds full even during the seasons when surface water dries up,” the Mayor said.
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