CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh—Sukhna Lake, the pristine beauty of the city is shrinking despite slew of initiatives by the Chandigarh Administration. Again the administration woke up to the problem and preparing management plan to save the lake. The plan has been divided in three terms- short, medium and long term.
While talking to a renowned geologist and Guiness Book World Record holder Dr Ritesh Arya said, ”The efforts of the Administration to save the lake may delay its decay but will not stop its end. Creations and destructions are continuous geological events of nature. A number of known water bodies across the world have anished from the earth like Indus Valley and Saraswati. Even 19.5 km Khardungla in Leh has been receding since last glaciations.”
Experts also say that the severity of soil erosion and weeds problem in Shivalik catchment was not well realized in time. There is no way to arrest sediment flow in such characteristic type of soils having high silt and clay (35 per cent silt and 40 per cent clay) clubbed with high pH (9.6) except to tap the water carrying silt in silt detention dams. He said that upper areas of Kansal, Nepli and Ghareri choes feeding the lake were extremely denuded, degraded and silt loads were so high that by the time remedial measures were initiated or implemented, a lot of silt had already found its way to the lake.
Dr Arya suggested that the proper geological treatment of catchment hills would be the best solution wherein the weathered slopes could be stabilized and the rain water from the slop-es can be diverted in the canals and moved away along with the silt lake, it is only then that the lake would get silt-free water. He further added that the silting in Sukhna was a geological problem as it involved weathering and erosion of the fragile upper Shivalik rocks. If the weathering and rosion processes along with the transportation of the sediments were properly understood, we can save the lake from further silting. Any other effort would lead to increase in the situation. The lake was built by blocking the channel of the stream in order to save the lake the channel has to be reviewed and a new channel should be built in which the entire silt from the upstream side can be drained out.
“It is geologically possible to do this with little planning and engineering. If Dubai can take the sea to build Plam Beach, we can definitely save Sukhna with simple geological wisdom. Let the doctors of the earth (geologists) treat the silting Sukhna, ” said Dr Arya.
Dr Arya also stressed that the geological solutions were the best solutions to extend the life of the lake. Shivalik catchment area could be geologically treated to control the erosion and allow the transportation of sediments in alternate pathway.