Environment
Lake Matters
Revathi Kamath has spent over five years restoring dying lakes of Karnataka through sustained community action, scientific desilting and relentless on-ground work.
5+Lakes Restored
2019Work Began
5+ yrsActive Work
Revathi Kamath has spent over five years restoring dying lakes of Karnataka through sustained community action, scientific desilting and relentless on-ground work.
"A city that cannot care for its lakes cannot care for its people. Lake Matters exists to prove that communities can and will rise to this responsibility."Smt. Revathi Kamath
Somanahalli Lake was a dying water body when Revathi Kamath first surveyed it in 2019. Years of encroachment had reduced it to barren land. What followed was a sustained multi-year restoration , desilting, bund repair, peripheral plantation and community mobilisation.
By 2022, the lake had returned to life. Water was flowing, trees were growing, and the community had taken ownership.
Naganayakanahalli Lake had its water-holding capacity severely reduced by illegal encroachments. The restoration involved extensive desilting, channel clearing, stone pitching and a sustained plantation programme along the lake boundary.
By August 2024, water had returned and native trees were taking root across three years of sustained work.
Mukkudlu Lake represents the next chapter of the Lake Matters initiative, a focused restoration effort shaped by desilting, earthwork, boundary strengthening, catchment protection and community participation. The work documents the difficult early stage of reviving a neglected water body and preparing it to hold rainwater, recharge the surroundings and support the local ecology again.
The restoration work aims to improve rainwater retention, support groundwater recharge, protect surrounding agricultural land and bring the lake back as a living ecological asset for the local community.
