Urban Lakes And Ponds
- PDF / 511,685 Bytes
- 14 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 98 Downloads / 192 Views
UDAIPUR, LAKES V. V. S. Gurunadha Rao1, Mogali J. Nandan2 1 Environmental Hydrology Group, National Geophysical Research Institute (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Hyderabad, India 2 Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Bhopal, MP, India
Introduction In the sandy state of Rajasthan, there are numerous lakes in Udaipur. Surrounded by hills, Udaipur is located in a saucer-shaped basin over an area of 475.85 km2 in the Aravalli range, at an elevation of 573 m. The city is interspersed with three serene lakes, Pichola, Fateh Sagar, and Udai Sagar, and is well known as the “City of Lakes.” These gleaning lakes enhance the beauty of the town. The two most scenic and famous lakes of the city are Lake Pichola and Lake Fateh Sagar. Lake Fateh Sagar lies to north of Pichola and was built by Maharana Jai Singh, but it got the name of Fateh Singh who rebuilt its dam. Both the lakes are breathtakingly beautiful, and one can take a cruise on their waters. The sunset over these lakes is momentous to be cherished. Pichola is fed by Sisarma, a non-perennial river. Gorana-ki-nal, a dam upstream the Aravalli, was connected to the Sisarma river recently. Fateh Sagar has a very small catchment of its own and is fed by Bari tank and Chota and Bada Madar. The overflow from the Bada and Chota Madar tanks merge with the Ahar river. The Ahar river feeds Udai Sagar several kilometers downstream. The overflow from Bari tank directly merges with Fateh Sagar. The overflow from Pichola flows into Fateh Sagar, and the overflow from Fateh Sagar flows into the Ahar through a canal before it enters Udai Sagar. With this
web of lakes and wells, most of the rain falling within the Udaipur basin was kept within the basin itself, with very little losses. In the past few decades, catchment destruction has increased the rate of siltation, jeopardizing the very existence of the lakes. Deforestation in the hills surrounding Udaipur and in the adjoining forests of Mewar region has meant that each year’s monsoon washes down tons of silt into the lakes. It has been estimated that the capacity of Pichola is reducing every year by 0.93%, and that of Fateh Sagar, by 1.16%. There was a silt trap between the Madar tank and Fateh Sagar at Thur-ki-pal village, but it has now broken. The silt now enters into the Fateh Sagar. Urbanization around the lakes has turned them into receptacles for organic matter and domestic wastes. Approximately 60,000 people live around the lakes, and nearly 60 hotels dot their peripheries. Domestic sewage and wastewater from the hotels is let into these lakes. Domestic solid waste of about 20–25 t/day is also dumped close to the lakes. This finds its way into the lakes during the monsoons. Besides, people living around the lakes continuously attempt to extend their personal property by encroaching upon the lakes. The 73 ghats on Lake Pichola are used by the public for bathing and washing, which includes infected linen from hospitals. A large am
Data Loading...
