Upper Lake (Bhopal) - ऊपरी झील (भोपाल)

Co-ordinates 23.248611, 77.339126 Nearby Cities Bhopal,Khamalia Location Bhopal State Madhya Pradesh Wikipedia Links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Lake_(Bhopal) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal

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The Upper Lake is divided from the Lower by an over bridge and is 6 sq kms in area Madhya Pradesh Tourism’s Yacht Club on the Upper and Lower Lakes provide facilities for exciting trips by sail, paddle and motorboats. These two beautiful lakes have given Bhopal its title as the "City of Lakes". The Upper and Lower lakes (designated as Bhoj Wetland) are urban water bodies Upper lake is a major source of potable water for the people of the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Raja Bhoj created the Upper Lake in the 11th Century by constructing an earthen dam across the Kolans River Lower lake was constructed much later on the down stream of the dam of Upper Lake. The Lower Lake is surrounded from all sides by human settlements.

Lake History

The name of the city Bhopal has been derived from Bhojpal or the bund of King Bhoj King Bhoj (who is said to have) had a great talent and interest in city planning and architecture also created several other large reservoirs with a view to provide his subjects with abundant water throughout the year as well as to create an aesthetic environment A beautiful royal garden (Kamla Park) was laid on this bund. The natural surface drainage of Kolans river which originates near the town of Sehore, used to flow from southeast to east and pass through the valley formed by hills namely Shamla and Idgah and subsequently Patra drain and finally join the river Halali, which runs a course of about 50 Km up to Kamla Park In Bhopal, topography is generally flat but there are several hills scattered around the lake and the highest of them is in Singarcholy near Lalghati, which rises to nearly 625m.

Upper Lake

Over the year the quality of water in the Upper Lake has deteriorated due to inflow of wastes and sewage from human settlements and siltation. The causes of siltation are manifold, namely agricultural residues, soil erosion, human activities in catchment area, inflow of silt and waste etc. The gradual increase in pollution of the lake has become noticeable not only from the visible changes but also from the water quality tests Natural phenomena such as soil erosion and siltation cultural activities such as immersion of idols and Tajias during festivals and inflow of untreated sewage and wastewater from the human settlements etc have led to the deterioration of this once beautiful lake.

Lower Lake

The quality of water in the Lower Lake is worse than that of the Upper Lake Surrounded by the congested city on all sides, the Lower Lake receives its water mainly from eight nallas (drains) carrying untreated wastewater from the human settlements in various parts of the city Washing bays or laundry houses exist along the periphery of the lake in large numbers and as a result, besides the domestic and human wastes coming from these dwellings, soap, caustic soda and detergents etc used for washing of clothes adds to the pollution problem.