Today, the impetus is rarely around dredging and draining swamps and more to protect “wetlands”, the biophysical and ecological designation for land that is swampy, often bordering and/or forming a part of bodies of water such as oceans, ponds, rivers, or lakes. Bangalore is a city of such wetlands and lakes. Four centuries ago, the founder of the city, the warlord Kempe Gowda, initiated a series of medieval hydraulic engineering projects that interconnected and built anew local water harvesting techniques. In the vernacular, these were called kere, today translated into English “tanks," “wetlands," “lakes," “swampland”). Middle class citizen groups and networks such as “Save Bangalore Lakes” and “Friends of Lakes” are active in protecting these water bodies from “corrupt” real estate developers other political actors (who often have powerful political party connections) and “encroaching” urban residents.

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