'City wetlands need urgent care'

Attending a webinar on biodiversity parks, held by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to celebrate World Wetlands Day on Wednesday, experts also suggested ways to ensure revival of the such water bodies in the Capital.

Most of the water bodies in Delhi, including prominent lakes such as Bhalswa, Sanjay Van and Hauz Khas lakes, require considerable attention to protect and preseve them, said many biodiversity experts.

Manu Bhatnagar, Principal Director of the Natural Heritage Division at INTACH, who also worked on the revival of Hauz Khas lake in the late 1990s. (Mayank Austen Soofi / HT Photo)

Attending a webinar on biodiversity parks, held by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to celebrate World Wetlands Day on Wednesday, experts also suggested ways to ensure revival of the such water bodies in the Capital.

Manu Bhatnagar, Principal Director of the Natural Heritage Division at INTACH, who also worked on the revival of Hauz Khas lake in the late 1990s, said, “The Hauz Khas lake completely dried up by the year 1998 and had to be connected to a sewage treatment plan in Vasant Kunj in order to sustain it.”

He said a series of check dams were built, along with duckweed growing in them, so the water quality could be naturally improved.

Faiyaz Khudsar, scientist in-charge at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP), said of the 1,000 water bodies in Delhi, only around 400 would currently be full of water, noting that while some are unable to sustain themselves over the years, others have been encroached upon.