Govt to rejuvenate Matheran’s Charlotte Lake

MUMBAI: The state government has decided to rejuvenate Charlotte Lake in Matheran, which is the only source of potable water to the hill station

MUMBAI: The state government has decided to rejuvenate Charlotte Lake in Matheran, which is the only source of potable water to the hill station. To be carried out under the Centre’s Amrut 2.0 Abhiyan, the project, to which the state-level technical committee gave its approval on March 13, 2023, also includes development of infrastructure for tourists by developing the dam wall, the approach and setting up plazas.

Govt to rejuvenate Matheran’s Charlotte Lake

“Charlotte is a manmade lake created by the British,” said an officer of the Matheran municipal council. “It has a part-earthen and part-masonry dam. Although located on a plateau, it has a very steep catchment, having a drop of almost 150 meters in a 1.5-km area. The laterite cap present on the plateau makes the catchment very vulnerable to erosion.”

The officer said the increasing human intervention in the lake catchment was destroying the forest. “There has been a loss of green cover and soil erosion,” he said. “The lake conservation proposal was studied by environmentalists, and they have suggested remedies such as redefining the culverts to reduce erosion and stop the silt from entering Charlotte Lake. They have also proposed contour-trenching and nullah-bunding with indigenous plantation of vegetation. This can reduce erosion and restore the dense tree cover in the catchment area.”

Sunil Shinde, a resident of Matheran said that Matheran got its water supply from Charlotte Lake and Simpson Tank but drinking water came only from Charlotte Lake. “We pay the highest water rates in the state— ₹26 per 1,000 litres for residential purposes and ₹178 per 1,000 litres for commercial purposes,” he said. “Water is pumped from the Ulhas river and stored in Charlotte Lake. If these two lakes are deepened and cleaned, we can store more water.”

The project, which will be completed in a year, is estimated to cost ₹5 crore. Of this, ₹2.5 crore will be given by the Centre, ₹2.25 crore by the state and ₹25 lakh will be granted by the Matheran municipal council.

The proposal includes removal of wet silt from the canal bed. “The silt removed from the lake must be reused for the conservation of trees, which have perennially faced soil erosion and for the conservation of the roads,” said Manoj Khedkar who owns a hotel called Radha Cottage in the hill station.