Visited Neela Hauz along with VC @official_dda, Addl & Joint Secretaries, Dr CR Babu & other officers this morning. It is a natural lake (wetland) spreading over an area of 3.9 hectares.
It was largely filled with malba during construction of Aruna Asaf Ali Bridge except for a small part filled with raw sewage coming from a drain originating from unauthorized colonies.
DDA has notified it as Neela Hauz Biodiversity Park & it is now fully restored to its original natural state of wetland ecosystem. The sewage now flows through a constructed wetland system developed and operated on zero energy budget.
Raw sewage has 80 mg/l of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD); 200 mg/l of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD); 0 Dissolved Oxygen (DO); high levels of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) & Total Suspended Solids (TSS).
The water entering into the lake after treatment is clean like flowing river water & has < 4 mg/l BOD, < 0.7 mg/l COD and >8.5 mg/l DO.
Wetland system has 2 oxidation ponds serving as stabilising ponds; filtration zone consisting of ridges of boulders, stones & pebbles to create turbulence while water passes through pores & biodegrade pollutants through interaction of water with biofilms of rocks.
Secondly, the wetland consists of ridges made up of river bed pebbles and furrows having 25 aquatic species with billions of rhizosphere microbes to biodegrade almost all the pollutants.
Surroundings of the lake have been landscaped and planted with 15,000 native trees of 35 species. We were surprised to see that these trees have already grown up to 5-10 ft. It also has a butterfly corner and a landscape garden.
At present, Neela Hauz Biodiversity Park with its rejuvenated lake has become a Recreational Centre in the area. Over 300 persons visit the Park every day. Clean water of rejuvenated Neela Hauz lake harbours both resident & migratory birds.
Over 70 species of birds & 40 species of butterfly have been sighted/ documented in the area. Compliments to @official_dda, Prof CR Babu & their dedicated team for this wonderful work that may be emulated at other places!
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