But the weeds multiply with each passing year because effluents from the residential and industrial complexes in Powai continue to be released into the lake. The BMC, on its part, asserts that the sewage is treated before being dumped. Powai Lake is a major source of the city's water supply.

Professor A W Date of the Mechanical Engineering Department at IIT says, "The weeds signify that the lake is trying to throw out the waste that has accumulated in it. So unless a total clean-up is attempted there is no point merely removing the weeds." Moreover, deweeding can only be undertaken in the summer months because that is when the area is relatively free of slush. Unfortunately, this happens to be a time when moststudents are away.

A complete clean-up of Powai Lake would involve dredging, desilting and transporting the waste away from the area. Also, the sewage lines would have to be turned away from the lake. The lake is a habitat for many species of flora and fauna, and all the dumping has threatened their survival. The recent instance of a dead crocodile being washed ashore has brought the issue of pollution into focus with renewed intensity. "The lake will soon become a cesspool where no life form can flourish," says Date.

"Such is the enormity of the problem that even if truckloads of muck retrieved from the lake were to be taken away from the site around the clock, it would take a whole five years for the entire operation to be completed," adds Professor Shiva Shankar of the Electrical Engineering Department.

It is alleged that the BMC has not collected garbage from the area in a year and a half. Also, the effluents released from residential buildings are not connected to the sewage lines. But that is notall. The narrow sewage pipelines that service the area were laid many years ago, and have proved grossly inadequate after the construction boom of the early 1990s. A new pipeline which was laid around five years ago remains non-functional.

Obviously, the laws governing the infrastructure that must accompany new constructions have not been implemented.

Expectedly, S N Turkar, hydraulic engineer, BMC, strongly rebuts the allegation that sewage disposal arrangements in Powai are inadequate. "There is a sewage treatment plant in IIT. And the residents of the nearby Hiranandani Complex are serviced by a line which extends all the way to Bhandup. Moreover, there is a provision for the clean-up of Powai Lake under the National Lake Conservation Plan. That includes desilting, afforestation and other things. But the proposal is pending with the Central government.

We cannot say when it will be cleared," he says dismissively. While the IIT faculty ascribes the problem to a lack of will, the BMC chooses to blameit on a shortage of funds. "Funds are a major hitch. This is the reason the project has been held up," says Turkar. "The total cost involved would be around Rs 41 crore, and the project will take four or five years to complete. In fact, corporate participation would be welcome."

Meanwhile, the IITians are trying to create awareness among the residents of the campus as well as BMC authorities and the media about how the lake will be `dead' within a couple of years if the flow of sewage into it continues unabated. As always, the major problem is plastic which blocks whatever drainage system does exist. A few members of the faculty have been trying to persuade the IIT canteen to desist from serving tea and coffee in plastic cups for a start. But a few of their own ilk complained that "coffee didn't taste the same when served in mud pots". Well, what about stainless steel then? The excuse was that a plastic cup was likely to be cleaner than a steel tumbler!

"Why don't we just get together and ban shops thathand out plastic bags whenever we buy something, or those cafes which serve beverages in plastic cups?" asks one of the professors. "After all, we have children who will inherit this earth. It's not like we can afford to say 'I don't care if the planet burns down after I am gone'."