Srinagar the largest city of Kashmir also known as the city of lakes and gardens is one of the most beautiful tourist hotspots and There is something very beautiful about lakes -- not just aesthetically, but also intellectually. Lakes do not just mirror their environment. They also mirror the society around them. Since we are degrading them due to the excessive environmental pollution and thus by this we are degrading our image all over the globe ,as we all know that water pollution refers to degrading any water body due to anthropogenic activities. Here, in Srinagar the biggest problem is that we use our most famous water bodies like the Dal Lake , ’Khushal Sar Lake , Anchar Lake, etc as a dumping sight for our daily garbage and then we start blaming the government for it but here the civil society is equally responsible for such kind of activities.

I have usually heard people saying that the government does not have a plan. Some say funds worth rupees 60 crore were embezzled in the name of the lake restoration, but some corrupt ministers took it over. These water bodies are turning into dustbins day by day and many people who are associated for their daily wages on these water bodies are becoming jobless and the aboriginals of the lake have migrated to far away places and those still around it are slipping into abject poverty. If we talk about the happy lake of Kashmir i.e ‘’Khushal Sar Lake ‘’ located in Srinagar , is no more happy as it has turned into a gutter , they say the best lotuses bloomed here once , some people compare this wetland with the wetland of Venice , and now this lake has turned into an ecological grief. Historians say in early times the lake’s condition was so good that people used to go there for a bath and nowadays people don’t even want to walk around it because of the foul and rotten smell produced by it.
Lotus stem or locally known as Nadru which was many years ago flourishing in these floating gardens has a low production these days , due to heavy pollution inside the lake , turning its cost more higher and higher in the economic market and still the quality cannot be matched as it was in early days .The fish inside the lake have become low in population and some species have become extinct due to heavy pollution of plastic inside the lake, effecting the livelihood of many fishermen on daily basis. People say, that during the times of their forefathers there was no pollution inside any lake in Kashmir and still they used to clean it in spring and harvest in Autumn .
The construction of the Eidgah road in the late 1970’s proved out to be the beginning of the new end , and this is thus seen as a major trigger towards the damage of the‘’Khushal Sar Lake . Most of the lakes in the Srinagar city are interconnected ,i.e ‘’Khushal Sar , Gilsar and Anchar Lake these three lakes work as jugular veins in the critical ecosystem of the iconic Dal lake, experts say if’ Khushal Sar Lake and Anchar dies Dal Lake won’t survive either. If we have a glance on Dal lake `s House boats , they will be a history in the next thirty years , and will only be seen in texts or photographs , this lake unlike the other lakes is facing the same environmental problems of untreated sewage , encroachments, pollution, eutrophication and ever increasing human pressure .
The Vice Chairman of Lakes and water ways development authority , Srinagar says, ‘’ Some of the arteries have gone beyond repairs basically because roads have been constructed and there is a lack of ownership and that’s why these lakes have now reached a stage where they have become stagnant or they have compromised a little bit and now they are at a verge of extinction, if not taken care off.
Experts say, as the valley is more prone to floods and at the time of floods these lakes act as sponges but due to their degradation they can’t help us ,and the same thing we faced during the 2014 floods and that in future can be repeated as well and they say that it’s predicted to be more worst . It is a high time where the government should think of enacting a Lakes Conservation Act that empowers local institutions to manage these lakes which are too precious to be allowed to waste any further. The role of the people should be to support these institutions with technical assistance, ecological advice and wherever necessary, financial assistance. Moreover we as responsible citizens should conduct cleanness drives , should go for techniques like afforestation and soil conservation into catchment areas , to stop throwing our daily wastes inside the lake and by prevention of pollution by pressuring the authorities to divert sewage ,drainage from settlements .We know that our problem is diverse , but not impossible to treat , and together we can solve it , rightly said by, Publilius Syrus, ‘’ where there is unity , there is victory.’’

Email: -----fatima.wani16@gmail.com