To understand the history and background of Rajakaluve, we have to go back to history. The geography of Bangalore plays an important role in the creation of Rajakaluves. Bangalore is situated in the heart of Mysore plateau with an average elevation of 900 meters (3020 ft). Because of the higher elevation, water becomes a scarce commodity in this region. To Solve this problem, around sixteenth centuries most of the lakes were created. Lakes play an important role in recharging the ground water. If we trace back the history of the creation of these lakes, it points to the Kempe Gowda, Wodeyars and the British. The city once had 280-285 lakes. As per government records, there were 51 lakes in Bangalore by 1985. At present, there are 17 lakes in Bangalore. The average rainfall of Bangalore is 859 mm. One can Experience two rainy season in Bangalore. One is them is the primary rainy season. The primary rainy season is due to south west monsoon starting from June to September. The secondary rainy season is due to North East Monsoon in the month of December. Rainfall recharges the lakes every year. Centre for Ecological Studies and IISC Bangalore have conducted several types of research on the following aspects.

• Catchment areas of the lakes
• Water collection sources
• Flora and fauna
• The number of migratory birds

Those research Papers conclude that the area of Water bodies and their collection sources of the city have reduced from 2,324 hectares to 1,005 hectares from 1973 to 2005. In the same time period, there is a huge increment in the built-up area in the city from 18,650 hectares to 30,476 hectares. This clearly explains that some of these built-up areas lie in the area of water bodies which could be either dried or a swamp or storm water drains / Rajakaluve. Lake Development Authority was established by the Govt. of Karnataka in 2002 to maintain the lakes in and around Bangalore. Lake Development Authority has issued maps for the lakes as well as for Rajakaluves. Karnataka government has digitized the land records of lands all over Bangalore. They have mapped all the lakes, Storm Water Drains and their exact location on google map. They have taken old existing maps and superimposed those maps on the google maps. These maps are original and not tempered. When it rains, water will have a natural tendency to flow by its natural paths. That is the reason the Kaluves are designed in such a way that it will collect the water naturally. Natural Water Paths are most likely going to get converted to storm water drains (primary/secondary/tertiary) in future, as they have necessary gradients for the rain water to flow. So, when there is excessive rain the SWDs are Swollen, it is natural to leave some space on the both sides of it. As a result, BBMP has decided that the water catchment area will be 50 meters from both sides of the SWDs. The same case is applicable to the lakes. All these storm water is collected in the lakes. The BBMP has brought an amendment not to build apartments, houses or any commercial buildings within 80 meters from the boundary of lakes. The above information clearly explains why one should not go for the living spaces nearby 50 meters from Rajakaluvesand 75 meters from the lakes. In order to check whether your apartment or building lies on the danger Zone, kindly Click the link. Please follow the steps to use the tool.

•  Locate your property on the map by using the search text box provided.
•  Right Click (or long press in case of a hand-held device) on any desired    location on the map to reveal the options as a context menu.
•  Click on 'Load Revenue Map'. This loads the revenue map containing survey boundaries, lakes, streams etc.
• In order to measure distance between a desired location and say a lake or a stream, right click / long press on any desired location again and click on the option "Add Ruler".
• Drag the ruler and note the distance shown.