EVOLVE

15/08/2026

And you may find yourself in another part of the world.

And you may find yourself standing besides a lake
Where money is spent every year
But the smell and colour never changes

And you may find yourself walking besides a sewage filled canal.
Restored last season
And restored again this season.

And you may find yourself coughing through winter air
While garbage is burnt
And water is sprinkled on roads.

And you may ask yourself:

Did they really spend 20 lakhs to add cow dung and urine to that lake?
Did they really leave all that silt by the side of the canal?
Did they really spend 2400 Cr to sprinkle water on roads?

And you may ask yourself:

What is going on here?

What Cleaning Up Lakes Has Revealed About India

15 years ago I came to India to understand what makes a country 'less developed'

Not only did I learn, I had the privilege of solving problems that the authorities cannot.

India has taught me the difference between truth and illusion.
It has taught me that good intentions are not enough.
It has taught me that reality cannot be ignored.

The question is:
What does one do with this knowledge?

14/07/2026

How incompetent are the DDA?

I'd be smiling too if the DDA Green Expo 2026 DDA Greens and Delhi Development Authority was paying me over thirty lakhs to add cow dung and urine with 125 herbs to lakes.

Say hello to the genius who thinks adding cow waste with herbs to a lake turns the whole thing into a reducing agent.

Claims a negative orp is a good thing.
Claims a research paper confirms it.
If you actually read the paper it confirms a negative orp is terrible for lakes. DDA staff obviously can't take time to read and some can't read English so can't read a simple research paper.

Says humans are alkaline beings

Says water can do photosynthesis without algae

Says oxidising agents have no oxygen

Says adding cow waste and herbs to lakes makes them purify all air around them forever.

In reality a reducing agent is a strong chemical that kills all fish and would mean there is zero oxygen.

Claimed bod in lake was 800 (double what raw sewage is) and was reduced to 15. If true would be a revolution in sewage treatment and would be used globally.

DDA staff too ignorant to understand how impossible these results are.

He also pumps in thousands of litres of clean water into the lake and then goes see how clean it is.

Also cleans weeds, like many contractors do to make it seem like their magic beans have an effect.

His ignorance is only matched by the incompetence of the staff of the Delhi Development Authority

Remove the DDA from all of Delhi's lakes and they will all get cleaner cos no fools going to be adding cow waste or fermented fruit peels or fertiliser to them.

Will save the public crores every year too

13/07/2026

Latest example of the Delhi Development Authority incompetent management of Delhi's lakes.

Will be doing bioremdiation is what they claim.

Will that be cow dung and urine with 125 herbs?

Or nitrogen and phosphate with micronutrients? (Aka fertiliser)

Or fermented fruit peels and sugar? (Aka bioenzymes)

Or bacteria that only pollute the lake further..

The only good thing about the ignorant is they don't know how ignorant they are and they make completely impossible statments that put them on the same level as flat earthers..

They seem to have learnt a new word, bioswales, and are trying to copy it but have basically just dug trenchs in the ground.

Reform the DDA or remove them from all of Delhi's lakes.

That's the only way Delhi's lakes will improve.

13/07/2026

What if India was less developed because we have less developed minds working on it?

It certainly takes a less developed mind to think adding cow dung and urine with 125 herbs cleans up lakes.

But that is what Rajiv Tiwari PC(Hort) thinks and instigated and what the Delhi Development Authority claims is keeping bansera pond clean.

Are the DDA going to demonstrate further incompetence and ignornace by adding cow waste and herbs to the yamuna now?

If it involves wasting public money very probable.

One thing we learned while doing a better job at managing Hauz Khas lake better than the Delhi Development Authority is that the public servants who manage lakes in Delhi have little to zero technical and scientific knowledge as demonstrated by their incompetent actions which include adding things like cow dung and cow urine with 125 herbs to lakes at the cost of between 20 lakhs and 1.2 crores per water body

These measures are unscientific and demonstrate how ignorant our public servants are.

They continue because the DDA allows contractors to take their own water samples and their staff have no technical knowledge and believe outrageous claims.

They also add fermented fruit peels and sugar as well as fertiliser to lakes

India could be clean and developed but first we have to reform the administration.

Starting with the DDA.

28/05/2026

An example of the mismanagement of Delhi's lakes by the who have adopted unscientific 'solutions' for improving water quality.

Have seen first hand how the DDA allows contractors to take their own water samples to justify over 20 lakhs at Hauz Khas lake and 40 lakhs per year at this waterbody.

This is a list of what DDA adds to lakes and claims cleans them:
Fermented fruit peels with sugar (aka bioenzymes)
Cow dung and urine with 125 herbs
'Microbial solution' most often it's actually cow dung or fermented fruit peels.
Bacteria
Nutrients with silica

They appear to have no scientific knowledge and falsey call this bioremediation.

None of these clean lakes and actually pollute them instead and can cause fish deaths.

Not used in any country in the world except fermented fruit peels in Indonesia.

Why does the indian administration adopt desi science that has no scientific basis?

After we complained for two years that the DDA was causing algae at Hauz Khas lake DDA horticulture department under Rajeev Tyagi changed words of tender to claim the algae they created was part of the treatment process

There are two reasons to adopt unscientific solutions such as these.

Gross incomptence and ignorance
Or
Corruption

Either way these public servants are wasting crores of our money while failing to do their basic duty.

When will India be free of these bureaucrats who hold back the development of our country and go against the wishes of our PM who I choose to belive actually wants change like every patriotic indian does?

30/10/2025

03/10/2025

Proud to share the Revival of Hauz I Shamsi lake in Delhi carried out by and

Urban lakes always present a challenge as you can't simply desilt them, clear some weeds, make a path and call it a lake revival..

As always we focus on improving water quality through the use of legitimate nature-based engineering measures such as floating wetlands and floating solar aerators.

Follow along as we share updates and more pictures as the islands grow.

30/09/2025

From Heritage in peril to Climate-Resilient Oasis!

Proud to share that Evolve Engineering was part of the restoration efforts at the historic Hauz-i-Shamsi reservoir in Mehrauli, Delhi - a 13th-century water body now being revived as a living symbol of ecological and cultural resilience.

As highlighted in this beautifully reported Mongabay India article, we contributed to the project by designing and installing floating wetlands and floating solar fine-bubble aerators that help restore water quality, attract birdlife, and support aquatic ecosystems - all while honoring the site's incredible history.

This project demonstrates the power of nature-based solutions, community stewardship, and inter-agency collaboration in breathing life back into our urban commons.

Big thanks to SEEDS India , IndusInd Bank and the "Pride of Shamsi" collective for making this transformation possible.

From floating wetlands to floating hopes - let's keep building climate-forward cities grounded in science, engineering, history and ecology.

Located in the historic neighbourhood of Mehrauli, is the Hauz-i-Shamsi, a reservoir dating back to 1230 CE. It was built by the third sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, Shamsuddin Iltutmish of what is referred to as the Slave Dynasty. Every year, this ancient water body stands as a silent witness to th...

20/12/2024

Evolve won the Chris Binnie Award for Sustainable Water Management 2024! 🌟✨
Awarded by the Institute of Civil Engineers, United Kingdom
For the Creation of the Hauz Khas Urban Wetlands

Thank you to all the volunteers who worked under the Delhi sun, everyone who donated and everyone who came together and was involved in reviving Hauz Khas Lake and building the Hauz Khas Urban Wetlands and thank you for the recognition this award gives.

This project would not have been possible without you
💪🙏🤝🌊👏🙌