In the late 19th century when the city was suffering from a great drought, Yele Mallappa Shetty, a betel leaf merchant, generously donated a large part of his wealth to the construction of a tank to harvest rainwater and provide respite to the people.

[5][2] Due to rapid growth of Bengaluru urban area, Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake has been getting encroached over the time.

The multi-storey apartments in its watershed region, which are constantly feeding stormwater drains completely but are also letting untreated sewage directly into it.

With regard to the lakes physico-chemical characteristics, observations were made three times in a year representing three different seasons.

[9] Following are the observations from the report: The lake is a biological hotspot for migratory birds, some of the usually spotted birds are golden oriole, northern shoveler, Asian green bee-eater, bulbul, pied kingfisher, egrets, and Eurasian coot.