Wular Lake - वुलर झील
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Wular lake is the largest fresh water lake of the India, having an area of 189 square kilometers. The rampant silitation has devastating effects on the lake. The human encroachments is the adding problem to this. If the rate at which the silitation and encroachments are not stopped, it won’t be far away to see the lake disappearing from the world map of Lakes.
Wular Lake plays an important role in hydrological regimes of the Kashmir valley and acts as an absorption basin for floodwater. Wular Lake along with its associated marshes is an important waterfowl habitat. The wetland, however, is subjected to heavy siltation due to loss of vegetal cover of the area.
The lake is the host to numerous migratory birds allover globe. It is also host to many endangered migratory bird species like Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris, Pallas's Fish-eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus and many others. There is a serious risk of loosing the biological diversity including loss of some important endemic and endangered species due to human encroachment, increase in pollution level and heavy silitation.
The maximum depth of the lake at present is about 14 meters but as the rampant pollution level is increasing, the depth too has got reduced to about 2 meters at some places. According to the environmentalists depth reduction has threatened a number of endemic species of the lake, thereby making them figure in the endangered list of species.
The Wullar Lake in Kashmir is the largest fresh water lake in India. It is about 16 Kms.long and 9 .6 Kms wide with ill-defined shores. This lake lies between Bandipore and Sopore at a distance of 75 Kms. from Srinagar. The Jhelum enters this lake from the south-east and leaves it from thewest. Storms rise in the lake everyday in the afternoon. The deepest part of the lake is at Watlab towards the hill called Baba Sukhuruddin in the north-west. Many small streams, Harbuji, Aarah, Erin and Pohru join this lake.
Wular Lake plays an important role in hydrological regimes of the Kashmir valley and acts as an absorption basin for floodwater. Wular Lake along with its associated marshes is an important waterfowl habitat. The wetland, however, is subjected to heavy siltation due to loss of vegetal cover of the area.
The lake is the host to numerous migratory birds allover globe. It is also host to many endangered migratory bird species like Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris, Pallas's Fish-eagle Haliaeetus leucoryphus and many others. There is a serious risk of loosing the biological diversity including loss of some important endemic and endangered species due to human encroachment, increase in pollution level and heavy silitation.
The maximum depth of the lake at present is about 14 meters but as the rampant pollution level is increasing, the depth too has got reduced to about 2 meters at some places. According to the environmentalists depth reduction has threatened a number of endemic species of the lake, thereby making them figure in the endangered list of species.
The Wullar Lake in Kashmir is the largest fresh water lake in India. It is about 16 Kms.long and 9 .6 Kms wide with ill-defined shores. This lake lies between Bandipore and Sopore at a distance of 75 Kms. from Srinagar. The Jhelum enters this lake from the south-east and leaves it from thewest. Storms rise in the lake everyday in the afternoon. The deepest part of the lake is at Watlab towards the hill called Baba Sukhuruddin in the north-west. Many small streams, Harbuji, Aarah, Erin and Pohru join this lake.
Overview
Wular lake is one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia. It plays a significant role in the hydrographic system of the Kashmir valley by acting as a huge absorption basin for the annual floodwaters. The lake, along with the extensive marshes surrounding it, is an important natural habitat for wildlife. It is also an important habitat for fish, accounting for 60 per cent of the total fish production within the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The lake is a source of livelihood for a large human population living along its fringes. The catchment area of the lake supports magnificent coniferous forests, alpine pastures and orchards, adding to the natural beauty and biodiversity of the wetland area.
 Photo by : s t e r n f a h r e r in flickr |
 Photo by : Aiju in flickr |
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