A thick coat of algae has spread through a wide swathe of Dal Lake, the flagship of Kashmir’s tourism.
The algae growth is a pointer to the deteriorating health of an already stressed water body and also raises questions over the conservation efforts.
Put differently, the return of the algae indicates that the factors that threaten the ecosystem of the Lake have not gone away and in the absence of daily cleaning by the concerned authority during the ongoing pandemic, it threatens to overwhelm the water body.
The Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), entrusted to protect and upkeep the water body, is under directions by the J&K High Court to, among others, remove floating gardens, carry out de-weeding and disposal of weeds, take measures for the management of solid waste, perform dredging of the Lake besides “relocation and rehabilitation of encroachers and title-holders” from the Lake area. All these processes have been exceedingly slow. For example, over the past decade or so, not many families have been rehabilitated in several colonies including Rakh Arath, a 940 acre of the government land on the outskirts of Srinagar.
The untreated sewage from nearly half the Srinagar population as also many houseboats also continues to flow into lake. As per experts, the weed growth, fish loss, declining water quality etc can only be arrested if sewage flow is halted or treat properly.
The alga not only detracts from the Lake’s aesthetic appeal, is also alarming on various fronts as regards overall wellbeing of the water body.
As its growth is associated with the ever-growing load of the effluents into the water body and improper de-weeding weeds¸ there is immediate need to for the LAWDA to redouble its efforts to bring back the lustre of the Lake waters. While some experts’ underline that the weeds contain nutrients in their roots and once cut, the nutrients release directly into the water which leads to the growth of algae, the authorities need to address the issue also.
Over the years, the conservation efforts have witnessed simultaneous progress and reversal as well as inordinate delays in execution. On August 4 last, the Lieutenant Governor held a meeting with the members of Committee of Experts (CoE) who suggested that any planning and development in and around the water body has to be in consonance with the High Court directions and suggestions put forth by them. There is a need to take all the requisite measures to restore the ecosystem of the Lake and preserve its unique biodiversity.
