43-Strategies for management of Pichhola Lake and its catchment at Udaipur, Rajasthan

Abstract

Pichola Lake at Udaipur is the nerve center for social, economic, and cultural activities of City of Udepur in the state of Rajasthan of India. Pichola Lake is interconnected with mirage of other lakes in Udaipur to fulfill fresh water requirement of living beings in different parts of the city. Pichola Lake receives water only during monsoon season as runoff from its hilly catchment. Over last decade water input to Pichola Lake has reduced considerably thereby causing shrinkage of the lake. Increased siltation in the lake has also caused reduction in the storage capacity of Pichola Lake aggravating the problem arising due to ever reducing water input and increasing water demand. In this presentation, present state of health has been depicted, causes of deterioration of the lake have been investigated, concerns for improving health of the lake have been expressed and strategies for management of lake and its catchment area have been discussed. Social and community forestry, people's participation in water conservation, soil conservation based agricultural practices for cash crops, mass awareness for maintaining quality of lake water, periodic program for cleaning of the lake have been suggested for monitoring and management of Pichola Lake.