Water woes | Drought hits Sankey Tank in Bengaluru, most parts of the lake dry 

Sankey Tank is groundwater-fed, and surface-water-fed during the rains.

Sankey Tank, one of the well-maintained lakes in the city and a landmark in north Bengaluru, has been hit by the drought. Most of the lake is dry now and even where there is water, it is mostly only a few feet deep. 

“Either I or my students have been studying Sankey Tank at least from 1996. The water level has never gone down so low as today. It is sad to see the lake like this,” said T. V. Ramachandra of the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science.

Created in 1882 by Col. Richard Hieram Sankey of the Madras Sappers Regiment, Sankey Tank is a rainfed lake. The IISc. is a prominent part of its catchment area, apart from Sadashivanagar and surrounding areas.

“The lack of rain in the city, and particularly in these parts of the city, has dried up the lake. Moreover, due to rising mercury, the rate of evaporation of water from the lake is also high,” said Prof. Ramachandra.

Water conservationist S. Vishwanath said the water loss due to evaporation was around 1.8 m per year, which translates to around 7 mm per day. If we assume the next big rains are 40 days away, we will likely lose at least 28 cm of water level more just to evaporation by then.

Sankey Tank is groundwater-fed, and surface-water-fed during the rains.

“The catchment area of the lake has been paved for most parts. There is over-exploitation of groundwater through borewells, which also depletes the water level,” said Prof. Ramachandra. He added that unlike before there was sewage coming into the lake and the present water level in the lake was also due to this.