GMDA study shows why it’s tough to fill water & revive Sikanderpur lake

GURUGRAM: Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) faces an uphill task in its project to restore the lake at Sikanderpur. Even if it manages to revive the lake and free its watershed area from encroachments, getting enough water to fill it, and maintaining the water level throughout the year would be a challenging task, an internal study by GMDA has revealed. Officials close to the project said similar challenges are likely to come up while restoring other water bodies as well.

The concept paper suggests the average yearly rainfall in the project areas varies from 337mm to 781mm. With the region’s high evaporation rates, the pond requires to maintain water at 5m depth at least, for it to be perennial. “In an urban setting, it’s necessary to feed water bodies with recycled water, which is what we’re also planning to do. We’ll have to meet water quality levels prescribed by NGT, which, as per our understanding, is attainable,” said M D Sinha, additional CEO, GMDA.

He added GMDA is anyway planning to build a network to redistribute recycled water, which can also be used to feed water bodies. Sinha said in the last two decades, Gurugram’s surface hydrology — the natural flow of rain water — has changed drastically due to building of roads, and any sustainable revival of the lake would depend on restoration of these drainage channels and further augmentation of water flows.

Despite the challenges, the authority has drawn up a plan to restore the water body. The execution of the project would include habitat restoration and securing of the watershed. “As of now, most of the lake’s watershed area, barring few encroachments, is owned by the government. We shouldn’t have major problems in that regard,” said Sinha. Once the habitat is restored and water body revived, it will be turned into a “green” public space, with facilities such as nature trails, walking/cycling tracks, open air theatre, viewing points, etc.

Part-funded by CSR, the project is being developed for an approximate cost of Rs 15.25 crore. It will take around four years to complete. The area to be covered — which includes the lake and its catchment — has been divided into two zones, one to the left of Road 9 which includes the lake, water course and some catchment area, and the other to the road’s right, which mostly covers the catchment area. The work will begin with Zone 1, mostly under Sikanderpur Ghosi and encompassing 26 hectare with a perimeter of 8.4km. It will then be extended to Zone 2, on the other side of Road 9.

Officials said they expected to face similar problems while restoring other drying water bodies in the region. Besides work on the actual lake site, habitat restoration in the watershed would determine the project’s success or failure. Restoration of the water bodies is chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s pet project, and with so many challenges, it wouldn’t be easy for GMDA to execute the project.