36-Urban lakes of India - An overview of the present status and projections for future

Abstract

The urbanization has been taking place in the world for more than 6000 years. In the developed countries about 75% of the population is concentrated in the urban areas. The rate of urban growth is especially high in developing countries like India. India has witnessed rapid urbanization since independence. The urban population in India was 62 millions (17.3 %) of total population in 1951 which increased to 218 millions (25.7 % of total population) in 1991. It is expected that by 2025 India's urban population will reach 50% of the total population of 1.2 billions. The population of India is expected to reach 1.64 billion by 2050. It is difficult to overstate the urgency of the problems confronting the urban lakes, which hold complete requirement of freshwater of urban area. A lake is a sort of catalyst in the development of the city, region and the country as a whole. In India most of the urban lakes are in crisis, beset by a myriad of problems that affect the quantity and quality of the water they contain, the organisms they support, and their ability to meet the water requirement. Some suffer from excessive water withdrawals and diversions, while others have witnessed deteriorating water quality because of polluting human activities on the surrounding land as well as in catchment area of the lake. This paper takes a candid look at what is happening today to urban lakes in India whether natural or artificial, freshwater or saline, and what is likely to happen to them if present trends continue into the future.