Wular Lake
Wular Lake is one of the largest fresh water lakes in Asia. It is sited in Bandipora district in Jammu and Kashmir, India. The lake basin was formed as a result of tectonic activity and is fed by the Jhelum River. The lake's size varies seasonally from 12 to 100 square miles. In addition, much of the lake has been drained as a result of willow plantations being built on the shore in the 1950s.
Etymology
In ancient times, Wular Lake was also called Mahapadmasar. Nilamata Purana also mentions it as Mahapadmasaras. Mahapadmasar is referred as Bolor by Al-Biruni. The lake, with its big dimensions and the extent of water, gives rise to high leaping waves in the afternoons, called Ullola in Sanskrit, meaning "stormy leaping, high rising waves". Therefore, it was also being called Ullola. Its corrupted form saw its transition as Bolor by Al-Biruni and over the centuries corrupted further to Wulor or Wular. The origin may also be attributed to a Kashmiri word 'Wul', which means a gap or a fissure, appellation that must have come also during this period. The word Wul, is also an indicator of its origin to a fissure or gap created.Natural history
The lake is one of the 37 Indian wetlands designated as a Ramsar site. However it faces environmental threats including the conversion of large parts of the lake's catchment areas into agriculture land, pollution from fertilizers and animal wastes, hunting of waterfowl and migratory birds, and weed infestation in the lake itself.Fish
Wular Lake is an important fish habitat, the main species being the common carp, rosy barb, mosquitofish, Nemacheilus species, Crossocheilus latius, and various snowtrout species in the genera Schizopyge and Schizothorax. Snowtrout species identified in the lake include the Sattar snowtrout, Chirruh snowtrout, Schizothorax planifrons, Schizothorax macropogon, Schizothorax longipinus and Chush snowtrout.Fish from Wular Lake make up a significant part of the diet for many thousands of people living on its shores and elsewhere in the Kashmir Valley. More than eight thousand fishermen earn their livelihood from the lake, primarily fishing for the endemic Schizothorax species and the non-native carp. Their catch comprises about 60 percent of the total yield of fish in Kashmir. Hundreds of other local villagers are employed by cooperative societies that trade the fish catch. Many other families harvest plants such as the grass Phragmites and the waterlily-like Nymphoides from the lake for animal fodder.
Birds
The lake sustains a rich population of birds. Terrestrial birds observed around the lake include the black-eared kite, Eurasian sparrowhawk, short-toed eagle, Himalayan golden eagle, Himalayan monal, chukar partridge, koklass pheasant, rock dove, common cuckoo, alpine swift, Indian roller, Himalayan woodpecker, hoopoe, barn swallow, golden oriole and others.History
The Kashmiri sultan Zain-ul-Abidin is reputed to have ordered the construction of the artificial island of Zaina Lank in the middle of the lake in 1444.Tulbul Project
The Tulbul Project is a "navigation lock-cum-control structure" at the mouth of Wular Lake. According to the original Indian plan, the barrage was expected to be of long and wide, and would have a maximum storage capacity of of water. One aim was to regulate the release of water from the natural storage in the lake to maintain a minimum draught of in the river up to Baramulla during the lean winter months. The project was conceived in the early 1980s and work began in 1984. The average annual inflows or outflows from the lake is nearly 7 billion cubic metersThere has been an ongoing dispute between India and Pakistan over the Tulbul Project since 1987, when Pakistan objected that it violated the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. India stopped work on the project that year, but has since pressed to restart construction. The Jhelum River passing through the Kashmir valley below Wular Lake which is a connecting lake as per IWT, provides an important means of transport for goods and people. To sustain navigation throughout the year, a minimum depth of water is needed. India contends that the Tulbul Project is permissible per paragraphs 7 and 9 of Annexure E, IWT while Pakistan maintains that the project is a violation of the treaty if the storage is above for non-power generation purpose. India says suspension of work is harming the interests of people of Jammu and Kashmir and also depriving irrigation and power benefits to the people of Pakistan that may accrue from regulated water releases.
The lake storage capacity can be increased per IWT to 300,000 acre feet or more up to 1580 m MSL by considering it as a reservoir for a run of the river hydro power plant by envisaging a low head power plant. The available deepened river bed level at the toe of the dam can be below MSL for 4,000 cusecs flow. Simultaneously, the enlarged lake can also meet the downstream navigational requirements fully during the lean flow season. The regulated buffer / surcharge water storage in the Wular lake would substantially enhance the power generation from the downstream Lower Jhelum, Uri, proposed 1124 MW Kohala, proposed 720 MW Azad Pattan, 590-MW Mahl hydropower project and proposed 720 MW Karot RoR hydel projects though its own power plant's generation is marginal. Construction of a RoR power plant with sufficient sluice gates would also flush the sediment from the lake area to preserve the lake.
The lean season water inflows into the Wular Lake are enhanced from the Kishanganga river by the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant after generating electricity.
Other lakes such as Manasbal Lake, Anchar Lake, Dal Lake, etc. which are not located on Jhelum Main river can be used similar to Wular Lake to impound flood waters for flood protection in downstream areas, hydro electricity generation, navigation throughout the year, irrigation, municipal and industrial uses.
Recognition
In recognition of its biological, hydrological and socio-economic values, the lake was included in 1986 as a Wetland of National Importance under the Wetlands Programme of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India for intensive conservation and management purposes. Subsequently, in 1990, it was designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. Against the Ramsar Conventions, the lake area is being used for garbage dumping.Restoration
Amongst other developments, two million trees will be cut to restore Wular Lake under the National Lake Conservation Programme. The Environment Ministry of India approved Rs 4 billion for the restoration project for the lake that will take 5 to 10 years and was after long delays scheduled to start in December 2011.The partner organisation South Asian Voluntary Association of Environmentalists is a joint initiative of individuals with the aim to protect the ecology and to conserve the nature at Wular Lake.