Restoring Lakes by going beyond Quick Fixes

Context: 

Wetlands, including urban lakes, cover nearly 6% of the Earth’s surface and rank among its most productive ecosystems. They store carbon, support biodiversity, regulate local climates, recharge groundwater and reduce floods. 

Yet many urban lakes in India are disappearing, heavily polluted or biologically dead. Their loss is weakening cities’ natural defences against climate change and threatening public health, water security and urban liveability. 

Scale of the Crisis: 

• CAG reports have highlighted the disappearance of more than 500 lakes in Jammu and Kashmir since 1967. 
• Hyderabad reportedly lost around 61% of its lake area since 1979, while 268 water bodies disappeared between 2002 and 2012.

Such degradation intensifies urban heat islands, flooding and water scarcity. Lakes must therefore be treated as “urban climate buffers” and “sponge systems”, rather than liabilities.

Why are Urban Lakes disappearing?

• Unplanned urbanisation:
  • Rapid urban expansion has increased pressure on land. Developers and public agencies frequently treat lakes and their catchments as vacant land rather than essential ecological infrastructure. Consequently, wetlands are filled, fragmented or converted for housing, roads and commercial projects. 
  • The sharp rise in urban land prices has further transformed lakes into a perceived opportunity cost. Former agricultural fields, lakebeds and drainage channels in cities such as Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai have become prime real estate.
• Pollution and institutional apathy: Urban lakes have become dumping grounds for untreated sewage, industrial effluents, construction debris, and municipal solid waste.

Thus, lakes are dying not only because of encroachment but also because they are routinely taken for granted.

Policy Recognition, Weak Implementation: 

• India’s expanding network of Ramsar sites demonstrates formal recognition of wetland conservation. However, international designation alone does not guarantee ecological recovery. At the local level, the wetlands continue to face:
  • ambiguous boundaries
  • encroachment of lakebeds and catchments
  • disruption of feeder channels
  • fragmented institutional responsibility; and
  • weak enforcement of the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017.
• Programmes such as AMRUT, Jal Shakti Abhiyan and Mission Amrit Sarovar provide useful policy frameworks, but their impact is often weakened by poor inter-departmental coordination and the preference for beautification over restoration. Municipal bodies frequently construct promenades, fences and lighting around lakes while ignoring sewage inflows, catchment protection, feeder channels and water quality. Such cosmetic interventions cannot restore a lake’s ecological functioning.

Examples of Effective Restoration: 

• The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) illustrates the importance of institutional action. It has reclaimed encroached lakebeds, removed illegal structures from Full Tank Level zones and undertaken restoration across several water bodies. By clearing silted feeder channels and restoring natural hydrological flows, the agency reportedly increased the water spread of Nalla Cheruvu from 16 acres to nearly 30 acres.
• Citizen-led movements have also revived lakes such as Puttenahalli and Jakkur in Bengaluru and Kudikunta in Hyderabad. These lake champions demonstrate how community monitoring, local knowledge and sustained participation can complement State action.

However, without statutory backing, stable financing and consistent enforcement, such successes will remain isolated.

Way Forward: Going Beyond Quick Fixes

Urban lake restoration requires structural reforms:

• Integrate lakes into urban planning: Water bodies, floodplains, feeder channels and catchments must be incorporated into city master plans as ecological infrastructure.
• Secure legal boundaries: Lakes and Full Tank Level zones should be scientifically mapped, geo-tagged and legally protected, with strict penalties for encroachment.
• Restore entire hydrological systems: Rejuvenation must cover catchments, drainage channels, sewage treatment and natural water flows and not merely the visible lake area.
• Create unified authorities: Fragmented responsibilities among municipal, irrigation, revenue and pollution-control agencies should be consolidated under accountable urban-wetland institutions.
• Control pollution at source: Sewage and industrial effluents must be intercepted and treated before entering lakes, while solid waste dumping should attract effective penalties.
• Institutionalise citizen participation: Residents, researchers and “lake champions” should be included in lake-management committees and monitoring systems.
• Ensure ecological financing: Dedicated restoration funds and long-term maintenance budgets are needed instead of one-time beautification projects.

India’s urban lake crisis is fundamentally a crisis of land, law and governance. Cities that reduce lakes to landscaped backdrops will pay through greater floods, heat stress and water scarcity. Those that restore lakes as living ecological systems will strengthen their resilience in an increasingly warm and water-stressed future. 

Practice Question: 

Q. Degradation of urban and peri-urban wetlands poses a dual threat to flood resilience and urban ecological security. In the context of initiatives such as Amrit Dharohar, examine the major drivers of wetland loss in India and suggest measures for their restoration. (10 M)