Pollution chokes famed Dal Lake in Kashmir
Dal Lake, famed for its ornately-carved cedar houseboats, is the centrepiece of Srinagar's tourist trade.
But in the past two decades it has shrunk by more than half to 11 square kilometres and lost 12 meters in depth.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "This lake is dying fast. It's turning into a swamp," says Manzoor Ahmed, a leading businessman who is spearheading a campaign to rescue the lake.
Cleaning up the lake is vital to tourism as visitors begin to return to revolt-hit Indian Kashmir amid moves by India and Pakistan to end their half-century dispute over the Himalayan territory that both claim.
Last September, a court slammed authorities for not doing enough to save the Dal Lake, saying it had become "a slum."
Gaudily-painted shikaras -- Kashmiri-style gondolas -- skim across its surface, and tourists come to stay on the brightly-hued houseboats moored on the lake.
But sewage from the more than 1,000 houseboats empties into the lake along with waste from hotels and homes on shore. Pollution is sometimes so bad it turns the lake a brackish green.
Tests showed high levels of lead, arsenic, iron, manganese, copper and cadmium that accumulate in fish which are then consumed by humans, posing serious health risks, a government report said.
"Effects of these elements can cause damage to brain, liver and kidneys of the consumers," the report warned.
In addition to the 7,500 people living on houseboats, another 50,000 people inhabit small islands in the area.
"The lake's environmental deterioration can be attributed rightly to human settlements within and near the lake," says Shafiq-ur-Rehman, a professor at the region's agriculture university and an expert on the lake.
Aijaz Rasool, a government engineer, says three sewage plants that began operating last year have helped to ease the problem of domestic waste, but more are needed.
"Once the boats are linked up to the system, the government will take care of the sewage," says Rasool.
However, Rasool says houseboat owners have refused to hook up their waste systems to a waste disposal system because it means they would have to shift to the rear of their lake.
The houseboat owners believe the proposed new location would make their accommodation less attractive as it would be farther away from a road frequented by tourists.
This is short-sighted, says Rasool.
"If we can't clean up the lake, it will stink too much and no tourist will come," he said.
Authorities have cut down more than 500,000 trees within the lake last year to stop the decomposing leaves polluting the water.
Brightly-coloured floating vegetable gardens are also major polluters. Dal Lake's floating gardens on reed rafts constitute one of Kashmir's biggest vegetable-producing areas.
"But pesticides used by farmers find their way into the lake, causing colossal damage to its fauna and flora," notes Rehman.
There are other obstacles to saving the lake, which is fed by springs and water from the surrounding mountains.
During the rainy summer months, silt from the mountains stripped of trees by heavy logging seeps into the lake.
The government has built a basin to stop 80,000 tonnes of slit from going into the lake yearly. "But the basin cannot catch it all," said Rasool.
"We need a sustainable and well-designed anti-pollution programme to save Dal Lake," says state lawmaker Raman Bhalla.
"Otherwise the lake faces disaster."