Water level in Nainital Lake sinks 18 feet below normal

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New Delhi: Nainital Lake, situated amidst the township of Nainital in Uttarakhand, is drying up as summer arrives owing to the effect of human activities.

As per reports, the water level in the freshwater body has gone down by an unprecedented 18 feet below the normal level this summer, causing huge concerns amongst environmentalists and tourists alike.

Experts have blamed humans for the depletion in the lake water level as activities such as illegal construction, felling of trees, concretisation of the catchment area and destruction of natural springs are taking a toll on the lake.

“In the monsoon, the water level reaches 12 feet above the zero mark, which delineates the normal water level. At present, the level is 18 feet below the mark considered normal,” Vishal Singh, a senior research scholar from the Centre for Ecology Development and Research (Cedar), was quoted as saying by TOI.

At Tallital - which is the lake's foot - there is a 'zero' mark, through which the depth of the lake and water level are measured.

Ajay Singh Rawat, former head of Kumaun University's history department, said, “Of the 60 natural springs in the city that recharged the lake, only 30 exist today, and even those have an alarmingly decreased water flow.”

Rawat, who has been campaigning for long to save the jewel of Nainital, said that the lake is going to turn into a mere pond if strict steps are not taken, even as he described the level of water in the body reported to be 18 feet below normal as something he has never witnessed.

Earlier in 2012, Rawat had filed a PIL in the Uttarakhand High Court requesting the court to convert Nainital into an eco-sensitive zone in order to save the area's ecosystem.

Last year, the court directed IIT Roorkee to submit a detailed project report about the beautification and recharge of the Sukhatal area.

It is said that the water level in the lake had been recorded at three to four feet below zero in the past few summers, and last May, it recorded two feet below zero. In the 1970s, the water level in the summer would be measured at one feet below the zero mark, the TOI report added.

Another factor that contributes to drying up of the lake is the neglect of Sukhatal, which recharges more than 50% of the lake.contributing factor, experts said.

“Despite strong evidence through research conducted by the National Institute of Hydrology approximately 20 years ago about the importance of Sukhatal, it was blatantly neglected by the authorities," Vishal Singh of Cedar added.

Nainital Lake, from which the town in the Kumaon hills derives its name, is one of the four lakes of the mountainous region - the other three lakes are the Sattal Lake, the Bhimtal Lake and the Naukuchiyatal Lake.