FOR A large number of Chandigarh residents, the morning is incomplete without a walk in the serene environs of Sukhna Lake. The lake is an inseparable part of life in the City Beautiful. A steady stream of visitors continues to pour in during the day to spend time at the man-made water body at the foothills of the Shivaliks. It is one of Chandigarh’s principal tourist attractions and its defining feature. Winter brings its own visitors to the lake — a large number of migratory birds flock to the water body, making it their home for a few months before flying away again.
But all this could soon be history. The rainfed lake is facing a crisis. The water level has been declining due to heavy silting. Deficient monsoons have added to the problem. Sewage flows into it from nearby villages. Weeds choke the lake at one corner.
The problem is not new. Seven years ago, the problem was serious enough for the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take suomotu notice of it in November 2009. There have been over 50 hearings in the case by different benches of the High Court. Over the years, the urgency to do something has grown as both climate change and the rapid growth of Chandigarh, with settlements now touching the lake’s borders, have added to Sukhna’s problems.
On the last date of hearing on August 22, the High Court ordered the Chandigarh Administration to make the lake weed removal a continuous process. It also asked the administration to issue a public notice seeking suggestions from Tricity residents for saving Sukhna.
The Punjab government was asked to inform the court if the lake could be connected with water supply pipes or by boring of wells to maintain water level.
CREATED IN 1958 by Le Corbusier and then chief engineer P L Verma at a cost of Rs 1 crore, the lake was constructed across SukhnaChoe by damming it along with Kansal and Nepali Choe. The dam was a 12.8 metre high rock-filled earthen structure. Such was Corbusier’s attachment to the lake that the ashes of the first Chief Architect of Chandigarh and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret were immersed here in 1970 as per their wishes.
But ever since its creation, silting has plagued the lake. From the erosion-prone Shivalik hills, the water that flowed into the SukhnaChoe arrived with silt and sediments.
At the time of construction, the storage capacity of the lake was 10.47 million cubic metre (mcm) and water spread area varying between 1.52 sq km and 2.28 sq km. Between 1958 and 1962, the lake lost more than 20 per cent of its capacity on account of heavy silting.
In 1971, the Irrigation Department of the Punjab government took up the issue. The KansalChoe was diverted into SuketriChoe which joined the lake at its eastern end.
But this very measure to increase the water in the lake contributed to more silting, with more of it flowing in down the steep slopes of the new channel.
The Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, conducted a detailed survey of catchment area in 1972 and stated that soil erosion, steep sloping hills and steep bare hills were the main reasons for siltation.
Following this, the Chandigarh Administration launched intensive water and soil conservation measures in 2,540 hectare forest catchment of the lake which included effective closure, plantation, and the construction of more than 190 silt-detention earthen dams.
By the year 1988 around 2,600 hectares of Sukhna Lake were converted into Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary and another 880 hectares classified as Reserve Forest. The lake has a catchment area of 42.7 square kilometre of which 29.8 square kilometre falls in Chandigarh while the remaining 10.22 square kilometre and 2.77 square kilometre falls in jurisdiction of Haryana and Punjab, respectively.
During the 6th Plan (1977-1978 to 1982-1983), the UT Forest Department implemented the Central government- sponsored scheme of soil conservation at a cost of Rs 73.41 lakh.
These measures taken over a period of almost three decades reduced the siltation rate of the lake from more than 140 tonnes per year to 5 tonnes per year.
Heavy siltation has also led to a fall in the number of fish in the lake. As per a study carried out by Prof M S Johal and Dr Y K Rawal in 2005, there were a total of 33 different species in the lake. However, due to the lake drying up in 2012, the number of species fell drastically. As per current data available with Dr Y K Rawal, there are only 19 species of fish left in the lake.
In 1987, the lake bed almost dried up due to a deficient monsoon combined with silting. The administration then started de-silting of the lake bed through mechanised and manual means. City residents flocked to participate in “Shramdan” to save the city’s landmark. This became an annual ritual till it was stopped in 2004.
