conserving urban lakes for tourism and recreation in developing countries: a case from chandigarh,...

Int. J. Leisure and Tourism Marketing, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2013 267

Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Conserving urban lakes for tourism and recreation in developing countries: a case from Chandigarh, India

Pradeep Chaudhry* Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author

Renu Bhargava Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India Email: [email protected]

M.P. Sharma Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India Email: [email protected]

Vindhya P. Tewari Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bangalore, India Email: [email protected]

Abstract: The Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh city is one of the prominent spots for outdoor recreation and tourism in northern India. In this paper, an attempt has been made to estimate the social benefit-cost ratio of this urban lake conservation project. It has been observed that social benefits completely outweigh the conservation costs incurred on the lake during last ten years. The efforts need to be augmented towards soil and water conservation measures in the lake catchment to make the lake aesthetically more appealing by way of utilising excess revenue earned over the conservation costs. Construction activities need to be banned in the catchment area and waste water needs to be prevented from entering the lake from catchment villages. All these measures will help not only in improving the water quality but also in increasing the recreational and aesthetic value of the lake resulting in enhanced tourist arrival and revenue.

Keywords: non-market benefits; urban lake; conservation; recreational and aesthetic benefits; travel cost method; cost benefit analysis; water quality; tourism and leisure.

268 P. Chaudhry et al.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Chaudhry, P., Bhargava, R., Sharma, M.P. and Tewari, V.P. (2013) ‘Conserving urban lakes for tourism and recreation in developing countries: a case from Chandigarh, India’, Int. J. Leisure and Tourism Marketing, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp.267–281.

Biographical notes: Pradeep Chaudhry is working as Chief Conservator of Forests in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Currently he is undergoing two years Masters of Technology Degree in ‘Environmental Management of Rivers and Lakes’ (2011–13) as a Government sponsored candidate at Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India. His research interests include valuation of natural resources, urban forestry, biodiversity conservation & management and water quality assessment. He has more than 35 research publications in the peer reviewed scientific journals, seminar and conferences proceedings related to the fields like environment, science, sustainable development, forestry, tourism and conservation of water bodies.

Renu Bhargava, in a career spanning over 40 years, has been with the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department and IIT Roorkee, India (formerly University of Roorkee). Currently she is working as Professor in Civil Engineering department at IIT Roorkee, where she has guided many PhDs and MTech students. Over the last 30 years, she has authored over 50 research papers. Her areas of expertise include solid waste management, water treatment, industrial waste management, advance water supply and sewerage. She has visited many countries including USA, Czech Republic, Austria and had been keynote speakers at various national and international forums.

M.P. Sharma has been working as Associate Professor at the Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, IIT Roorkee, India, since last 26 years. His area of research includes renewable energy with special reference to biodiesel production and utilisation, modelling of IRES, hybrid energy systems, induction generators, EIA of renewable energy projects, energy and environmental conservation, conservation of water bodies, water quality assessment and GHG emissions from reservoirs and lakes. He has authored more than 80 research papers in various peer-reviewed national and international journals.

Vindhya P. Tewari is working as Scientist-G & Head, Forest Biometry Division at IWST, Bangalore, India. He worked as FAO fellow during 1995–1996 at the institute of Forest Management & Yield Sciences, University of Goettingen (Germany) and later visited twice to the same institute under short-term study and research visit of DAAD. He was awarded Brandis Prize in 1998 by the Indian Forester. He has authored more than 60 research papers in various peer-reviewed international journals. He is National Subject Matter Coordinator of ‘Forest Biometrics’ in ICFRE, Dehradun, India. He is also acting as Deputy Coordinator IUFRO Div.4, unit 04.01.03 (Instruments & Methods in Forest Mensuration).

1 Introduction

India is blessed with a number of natural water bodies based tourist spots viz., Periyar Tiger Reserve (Kerala), Keoladeo National Park (Rajasthan), Khecheopalri Lake (Sikkim), Kaziranga National Park (Assam) and Borivilli National Park (Maharashtra).

Conserving urban lakes for tourism and recreation in developing countries 269

Significant and valuable floral and faunal components add special importance to these spots. For example, Periyar lake is situated in the Western Ghats biodiversity hot-spot of tropical rain forests, Keoladeo National Park is famous for migratory birds in surroundings of tropical dry deciduous forests, Kaziranga National Park is known for one horned Rhino near Brahmaputra river in tropical evergreen forests, Khecheopalri lake of Sikkim is surrounded by dense clouds and Himalyan vegetation of Oaks and Rhododendrons, Borivilli National Park serves as lungs for Mumbai Metro and lakes like Vihar and Tulsi located inside park supply drinking water to the city residents. There are many other man-made lakes/wetlands in the country (e.g. Ooty, Nainital, Udaipur, Bhopal, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh) which attract a number of international and domestic tourists. Researchers have quantified recreational and aesthetic benefits of some of these spots, e.g. recreational value of Periyar Tiger Reserve by Manoharan (1996), recreational value of Keoladeo National Park by Murthy and Menkhaus (1994) and Chopra (2000), recreational and religious value of Khecheopalri lake by Maharana et al. (2000), willingness to pay for the preservation of Borivilli National Park of Mumbai (Maharashtra) by Hadker et al. (1997) and willingness to pay for the improvement in water quality of Powai Lake by Gupta and Mythili (2011). These studies provide scientific basis for securing international and national funding for conservational aspects of respective spots, charging optimum entrance fee to the spot and royalty from tour operators and hotels, leading to sustainable development of natural areas.

The objective of this paper is to examine the water quality parameters of Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh city of India, their relevance in promoting tourism and habitat for water birds. Social benefit–cost analysis of lake conservation efforts indicates that tourism and recreational benefits of the lake far exceed the costs incurred by the concerned authorities on lake catchment and other lake maintenance activities like desiltation and weed removal. Developing countries, in general, face financial constraints in undertaking conservational measures and hence are not able to get full advantages of tourism benefits from urban water bodies. Local city administration and municipalities in developing countries are generally inclined towards economic growth with limited investment in development of water bodies and related green infrastructure. Benefit cost analysis could yield evidence and support to reverse this trend (Chen and Jim, 2008). It has been tried to establish in the present study that excess money received through revenue (benefits) from Sukhna lake activities can be further utilised in promoting conservational measures of the lake resulting in overall improvement of lake catchment biodiversity, ecosystem services and water quality. All these environmental components are expected to result in enhanced tourist arrival and revenue. This model can be emulated by other developing countries for sustainable development of their natural resources and tourism.

2 About Chandigarh city

Chandigarh, the City Beautiful, is India’s first planned city constructed after 1947 when the country got independence. A number of famous town planners remain associated with the concept and planning of the city, e.g. Albert Mayer and Matthew Nowicki from


America, Le Corbusier from France and E. Maxwell Fry, Jane and Pierre Jeanneret from England. Le Corbusier played a major role till the city came into being. The construction of the city began in 1952 and was inaugurated on 7 October 1953 by Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India. Located at the foothills of the picturesque Shivalik mountain ranges, the city is an epitome of tradition blended with modernity. In the city’s master plan, trees and plants are as much a part of the construction plans as the buildings and the roads.

Le Corbusier’s one of the significant contribution was the composition of the city as a human form – the capitol complex forming the ‘head’; the city centre forming the ‘heart’; the Leisure valley, open spaces, lake and sector greens acting as ‘lungs’; the cultural and educational institutions serving as ‘intellect’; network of roads acting as circulatory systems and industrial area as ‘viscera’. The basic unit of urban planning was the ‘sector’ and the entire city was designed with an ordered framework of ‘sector’ that looks like a chess board. Corbusier wanted Chandigarh city’s urban greens and lake to be the zones of peace and to attract people of all ages and walks of life for the ‘Care of Body and Spirit’. Therefore, in the original plan, it was decided that vehicles would not be allowed on the dam promenade and it would be a pedestrians’ zone. Foreseeing the pressure on land in coming years, he very wisely suggested that no buildings should be constructed between the lake and the Shiwalik hills at any time in the future so that wide panorama of the hills was preserved (Wattas and Gandhi, 2009). Unfortunately, nowadays this condition is violated and few villages like Khuda Alisher, Kaimbwala, Kansal have come up in the vicinity, adding pressure on lake catchment area due to agricultural fields, grazing and human settlements. Number of tourists coming to the city are gradually increasing with saturation seems to be occurring during last 3–4 years (Table 1).

Table 1 Domestic and international tourists in the city during 2005–2011

Year Domestic tourists (million) Foreign tourists (million)

2005 0.61 0.023

2006 0.70 0.025

2007 0.92 0.026

2008 0.90 0.032

2009 0.91 0.037

2010 0.90 0.039

2011 0.90 0.037

Source: Chandigarh Tourism, 2012

Chandigarh city has some famous tourist spots like Nek Chand’s Rock Garden, Zakir Rose Garden, Leisure Valley, Bougainvillea Garden and Sukhna Lake; but the Lake is considered as the most preferred tourist spot by the people of the city (Chaudhry et al., 2007).

3 About the Sukhna Lake

The Sukhna Lake was formed in 1958 by constructing an earthen dam of about 3 km in length and 14 m in height on Sukhna choe (a storm water drain). At present the lake is fed mainly by two hilly torrents, Kansal and Nepli choes. The total catchment area of the


lake is 42 square kilometres, of which 33 square kilometres falls in the Shivalik hills and rest in few villages of Punjab state, Haryana state and Union Territory of Chandigarh city. Width of the top dam is 23 m and length of walkway is about 3 km. The storage capacity, water spread area and average depth of the lake was 1074.4 ha m, 228.64 ha and 5.5 m respectively during its formation in 1958, which are now reduced to 513.28 ha m, 148.28 ha and 1.1 m respectively in 2012 due to various reasons.

3.1 Importance of the lake

Open spaces like lakes, rivers, wetlands, parks/gardens etc. in urban settings, provide environmental, social and educational benefits to the residents and tourists coming to the city. The quality and quantity of these resources act as obvious indicators for sustainable urban development. In a study conducted in Stockholm city of Sweden, it is concluded that the locally generated ecosystem services have a substantial impact on the quality of life in urban areas and should be addressed properly in land use planning (Bolund and Hunhammar, 1999). Urban nature based recreational activities are becoming increasingly widespread (Morancho, 2003). Water bodies like lakes and rivers in cities constitute significant part of urban nature and help providing market and non-market benefits such as boating, recreation, nature viewing/appreciating, climate amelioration, water flow regulation, carbon sequestration, etc. The scientific community, worldwide, is at present nearly unanimous about such non-market/intangible benefits provided by lakes/rivers/wetlands. Costanza et al. (1997) have tried to quantify and value the benefits provided by natural capital like oceans, forests, grasslands, wetlands and lakes/rivers. It was found that non-market services in the form of water regulation, water supply, waste treatment and recreational aspects constitute the major portion of overall benefits/services provided by lakes/rivers. Sukhna Lake of Chandigarh city of India may provide such benefits to the people of the region, though no scientific study on this aspect is reported so far. Till date, three Asian and six National level rowing competitions have been organised at the lake during the last three decades but due to lesser rainfall during last few years coupled with silt and excessive weed related problems, the lake is fast loosing its charm. Lot of winged guests from Siberia and other European countries are visiting the lake, particularly, during winter season, when water level remains pretty good. These birds include Coots, Pochards, Mallards, Geese, Eagrets, Teals, Herons and Duck.

4 Water quality of the lake

Pollution Control Commmitte (PCC) of Department of Environment, Chandigarh administration is monitoring the lake water quality by taking monthly water samples from the lake surface and analysis of these samples is carried out in PCC laboratory as per standard procedures of APHA (1989). The water quality parameters (annual averages) of the lake water observed during 2006–2012 are presented in Table 2. The parameters include pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), turbidity, temperaure change, Total Solids (TS), Total Phosphate (TP) and nitrate.


Table 2 Water quality parameters of lake water (annual average) during 2006–2012

Parameters Unit 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Temperature °C 26 27 25 24 26 25 25

pH Std. unit 7.6 8.1 8.0 7.9 7.4 7.4 8.1

Turbidity NTU* 88 80 64 92 95 44 42

TS mg/l 381 262 270 267 136 173 218

DO mg/l 8.1 6.4 6.9 7.9 7.0 10.3 6.8

BOD mg/l 2.5 1.6 1.4 2.0 2.5 2.0 3.0

TP mg/l 0.4 BDL** BDL 0.05 0.16 BDL 0.6

Nitrate mg/l 3.25 BDL 1.32 BDL 0.59 0.04 0.16

Notes: *NTU – Nephelometric turbidity units; **BDL – Beyond detectable limit.

5 Revenue collection and expenditure incurred on lake conservation

The lake is the main tourist attraction for the Indian and foreign tourists. About 1000 to 1500 domestic tourists visit lake on weekdays and 2500 to 3000 on weekends for boating. The Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), who looks after boating arrangements in the lake, is earning between Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 70,000 per day from boating. There are more than 50 ‘boats’ and ‘shikaras’ available for use in the lake for the benefit of tourists. In addition to boating, CITCO runs ‘Lake Cafeteria’ near lake entrance where tourists enjoy north Indian dishes, snacks and fast food. Thus, the lake is a prominent source of revenue for the CITCO.

The Municipal Corporation Chandigarh (MCC) auctions parking spaces at prominent spots of the city every year. Parking fee near lake is also a major source of revenue for the MCC. Earnings of both, the CITCO and MCC, from lake are constantly rising during last 10 years (Figure 1).

Figure 1 Revenue earned by CITCO and MCC from the lake during last 10 years (see online version for colours)


Department of Forests and wildlife, Chandigarh administration is responsible for management of more than 60% of overall catchment area (2600 ha) in Sukhna wildlife sanctuary, out of 4207 ha of total catchment of the lake. The department maintains more than 190 silt retention dams, check dams, spurs, revetments and brushwood structures in the area to conserve the soil and to retain the silt in the water bodies created behind silt retention dams. The department also undertakes afforestation in the area for soil and water conservation purposes. Special emphasis is laid to plant/seed sowing of indigenous species of trees, shrubs and grasses.

Engineering department of Chandigarh administration carry out de-silting and dam repair works of the lake during summer season mainly and also controls water outflows during rainy season. Horticulture division of the Engineering department is responsible for maintenance of greenery in the form of lawns, trees, shrubs, hedges, etc. on the dam promenade. Total expenditure incurred by these two departments during last 10 years (including salary and wage component) is presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Expenditure incurred by different agencies on lake conservation during last 10 years (see online version for colours)

6 Discussion

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has specified certain water quality criteria based on ‘Designated Best Uses’ (DBU) as given in Table 3.

Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is an important water quality parameter in any aquatic ecosystem. A low level of DO indicates high polluting levels of biodegradable wastes in a lake or wetland. A minimum level of 4 mg/l of DO is needed for sustaining fish and other organisms in a water body. For organised bathing at a water body, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has prescribed a minimum level of 5 mg/l of DO for Quality class B. During last seven years, a satisfactory average DO level of 7.63 mg/l is maintained in Sukhna Lake (Figure 3).


Table 3 Designated best use classification of surface water

Designated best use Quality class Primary water quality criteria

Drinking water source without conventional treatment but with chlorination

A

Total coliform organisms (MPN*/100 ml) shall be 50 or less

pH between 6.5 and 8.5

Dissolved oxygen 6 mg/l or more

Biochemical oxygen demand 2 mg/l or less

Outdoor bathing (organised) B

Total coliform organisms (MPN/100 ml) shall be 500 or less




Drinking water source with conventional treatment

C

Total coliform organisms (MPN/100 ml) shall be 5000 or less

pH between 6 and 9



Propagation of wildlife and fisheries

D



Free ammonia (as N) 1.2 mg/l or less

Irrigation, industrial cooling and controlled disposal

E

pH between 6 and 8.5

Electrical conductivity less than 2250 micro mhos/cm

Sodium absorption ratio less than 26

Boron less than 2 mg/l

Note: *MPN – Most probable number.

Source: CPCB (2008)

Figure 3 Dissolved oxygen level in the Sukhna Lake during last seven years (see online version for colours)


Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) shows the level of biodegradable waste pollution in a lake/wetland/river ecosystem. Sewage and biodegradable domestic wastes are mainly responsible for releasing the nutrients in the water body. DO level of the water body affects the BOD to a great extent. A high level of DO is indicative of good life supporting potential of the aquatic ecosystem. The average BOD level in Sukhna Lake was found to be 2.14 mg/l during last seven years, which is well below CPCB-quality class B (organised bathing) of 3 mg/l (Figure 4). The results indicate that BOD is under control meaning that whatsoever organic waste is received by the lake, the self-purification capacity of the lake is taking care of the organic matter and thus maintaining good water quality.

Figure 4 Biochemical oxygen demand level in the Sukhna Lake during 2006 to 2012 (see online version for colours)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has specified turbidity limit of 5 NTU for any lake to be used for swimming and recreational purposes but Sukhna Lake does not meet this norm as the turbidity is quite high (Figure 5). However, no standards are provided by Government of India on the turbidity limit acceptable for swimming and recreational purposes. High turbidity is attributed mainly to geologically young and unstable soils of Aravali hills. Tree plantations have been raised by Department of Forests and Environment, Chandigarh administration during last 10 years in the catchment to arrest soil erosion and the positive results are available as evident from the reduction in turbidity level in 2011 and 2012 (Figure 5).

The water quality of the lake is found suitable for outdoor bathing purpose with designated best use of outdoor bathing (CPCB, 2008) as the DO is found > 5 mg/l, BOD < 3 mg/l and pH between 6.5 and 8.5 during the study period (Table 2, Figures 3 and 4). The water quality is suitable for supporting fish population in the lake and for migratory birds as well. However, water quality may not be classified as ‘Quality Class A’ since total colliform count per 100 ml exceeds 50 (Sharma et al., 2010). In terms of overall water quality of the lake expressed through water quality index (WQI), the lake water was found to be of ‘Good’ quality as per the National Sanitation Foundation Water


Quality Index (NSFWQI) criteria (Chaudhry et al., 2013). The WQI is a single number that expresses overall water quality at a certain location and turns complex water quality data into information that is understandable and usable by the general public and NSFWQI categorises the quality of water bodies into five classes, i.e. excellent, good, medium, bad and very bad (Brown et al., 1970). In order to further improve the quality of the lake water, there is a need to divert domestic waste water entering occasionally to the lake from three villages in the catchment during rainy season. There is also need to strictly enforce the order of Hon’able Punjab and Haryana High Court about the ban on new constructions in the catchment area.

Figure 5 Turbidity level in the Sukhna Lake during 2006–2012 (see online version for colours)

As stated elsewhere, the maximum portion of Lake Catchment is hilly and Sukhna wildlife sanctuary is occupying maximum percentage of this area. This sanctuary is an abode of wide variety of mammals, birds, reptiles, butterflies and micro-organisms (Chief Wildlife Warden, 2008). Important mammals include Sambar, Spotted dear, Wild boar, Jackal, Small Indian Civet, Jungle cat, Porcupine, Hanuman langur, Rhesus monkey, Indian Hare and Squirrel. There are more than 150 varieties of birds including aquatic birds. Prominent among them are Peacock, Red jungle fowl, Grey partridge, Cuckoos, Golden oriole, Kingfisher, Swifts, Hornbills, Woodpeckers, Barn owls, Parrots, Doves, Coots, Hawks, Geese, Swan, Ducks, Black drongo, Tree pie, Jungle crow, Bulbul, Hill myna and Bee eater. There are varieties of reptiles including snakes like Cobra, Rat snake, Common krait, Russell’s viper, Indian python and Common monitor.

With a view to promote eco-tourism, to educate and create awareness among masses, especially children, about biodiversity of the area, the Department of Forests and Wildlife, Chandigarh Administration has created eight (8) ‘Nature Trails’ in the sanctuary ranging from 2.5 km to 8 km length. These nature trails pass through the woods, hill slopes and water bodies. The gradient is from gentle to steep. There are two beautiful rest houses namely ‘Kansal loghut’ and ‘Nepli Inspection hut’ in the sanctuary (Figure 6). Lot of visitors and nature lovers visit the area .During 2007–2008, more than ten thousand visitors visited the sanctuary (CWLW, 2008).


Figure 6 A view of forest rest house ‘Kansal Loghut’ in lake catchment area (see online version for colours)

6.1 Cost benefit analysis

Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of conservation projects related to wetlands and lakes becomes necessary to justify the expenditure incurred on such projects. CBA is an analytical tool based on welfare theory, which is conducted by aggregating the total costs and benefits of a project or policy over both space and time (Hanley and Spash, 1993). A project represents a welfare improvement only if the benefits net of costs are positive. We have not come across any report in the literature where such study has been taken up in the developing countries so far to attempt cost benefit ratio of a specific urban lake or wetland conservation project, considering the expenditure incurred and revenue earned during previous ten to fifteen years. For calculating benefit cost ratio of maintaining the lake, present value of the revenue earned and expenditure incurred by different agencies of Chandigarh administration during last ten years is calculated by considering whole sale price index of last one decade (Table 4). CITCO incurs monthly expenditure on salary and wages of employees and miscellaneous maintenance charges at the lake. Adopting Rs. 0.25 million as monthly expenses during 2002–2003 to 2005–2006 (before VI Pay Commission recommendations) and Rs. 0.50 million as monthly expenses during rest of the period, the present value of such overall expenditure is estimated at Rs. 62 million. Therefore the net present value of revenue (benefits) earned during last 10 years at the lake comes out to be Rs. 451 million. Dividing this figure by the net present value of expenditure (costs) incurred during the period i.e. Rs. 242.90 million, the benefit cost ratio works out as nearly 2.0. This figure is arrived at by ignoring the non-market benefits of the lake and considering only the market benefits. This ratio is further expected to improve by considering non-market use benefits like annual tourism and recreational value of the city’s tourist spots from the view points of tourists and residents of the city. This is a significant step in the direction of sustaining the beauty and quality of lake in the years to come.


Table 4 Present values of revenue earned and expenditure incurred

Year Overall revenue (million Rs.)

Present value of revenue (million Rs.)

Overall expenditure (million Rs.)

Present value of expenditure (million Rs.)

2002–2003 27.12 47.60 6.10 10.70

2003–2004 28.82 47.44 7.90 13.00

2004–2005 31.63 49.40 10.70 16.80

2005–2006 32.35 48.50 14.90 23.00

2006–2007 35.29 50.47 23.50 33.60

2007–2008 40.93 53.65 19.20 25.10

2008–2009 45.80 56.10 13.10 16.00

2009–2010 47.30 54.15 23.50 26.90

2010–2011 50.05 53.55 40.60 43.40

2011–2012 52.00 52.00 34.40 34.40

Total 512.86 242.90

Chaudhry and Tewari (2006) assessed annual tourism recreational value of Chandigarh city at Rs. 92.40 million at 2002–2003 price level. Travel Cost Method was applied on more than 900 domestic tourist families while considering tourists up to 1000 km distance from the city due to conceptual reliability aspects of the method. This means the domestic tourists from extreme southern and north-eastern states were neglected in the analysis. Data from foreign tourists was also not considered in the analysis. Hence, the estimate may be considered as a conservative one. Sukhna Lake and Rock Garden are ranked among top two tourist destinations of the city whereas city’s greenery in the form of parks/gardens, city plaza, architecture, museums, etc. are often visited by the tourists after these two spots of tourism importance (Chaudhry et al., 2007; Chaudhry and Tewari, 2008). Therefore, one third of overall city’s annual tourism value, i.e. Rs. 30.80 million (out of Rs. 92.40 million) can be safely attributed to the Sukhna Lake. Present value of this amount at an average decadal inflation rate of 6.5% comes out as Rs. 54.00 million. Adding Rs. 45.1 million of net annual present value of market revenue earned by Chandigarh administration from the lake to this figure of non-market tourism benefit of Rs. 54.00 million, we get around Rs. 99.00 million. Dividing this by net annual present value of expenditure incurred on lake conservation (Rs. 24.29 million), benefit cost ratio increases to 4. Moreover, if other intangible benefits of this water body like local microclimate amelioration, carbon sequestration, water flow regulation, soil erosion prevention, etc. are considered, the benefit cost ratio will be much higher than 4. This speaks about the immense importance of the lake not only on being on the tourist map of the city but also for maintaining overall ecological balance of the region.

Water quality in water bodies generally has a positive effect on tourism and recreation (Greenlay et al., 1981; Mihalic, 2000; Puczko and Ratz, 2000). The water quality of Sukhna Lake is mostly dependent on the catchment area characteristics where turbidity remains the main stressor due to erosion prone nature of young Shivalik hill formations. Dense plantations of different local tree species and grass cover in the catchment area are needed to have better biodiversity and soil stability. If biodiversity remains good, more ecosystem services in the form of ‘regulating type’ e.g. climate regulation, water regulation, soil regulation and disturbance regulation (storm protection and drought effect recovery) would be generated, resulting in not only the improvement of water quality by


way of controlled turbidity but also mitigating the ill effects of climate change and global warming by more carbon sequestration. The magnitude of ecosystem services generated by lakes, rivers and wetlands at global level (US$ 6.6 trillion/year) has been found much higher in comparison to forests (US$ 4.7 trillion/year); though latter occupy more global area (Costanza et al., 1997). Therefore, a well stocked catchment area of the Sukhna Lake with tropical dry deciduous tree species, related fauna, grass cover and excellent quality of water in the lake would be of critical importance in terms of overall environmental improvement and for the development of tourism sector.

With a favourable benefit cost ratio for the lake conservation, there is a need to divert the excess revenue earned from the Sukhna lake activities like boating and food plaza for the conservation measures in the lake catchment and bed. With domestic and foreign tourist arrival figures in the city remaining stagnant during last three–four years (Table 1), resulting better biodiversity in the lake catchment and water quality of the lake may help in increasing tourist arrival rate. The catchment area of the lake consisting mainly of wildlife sanctuary may be made more accessible to the tourists on limited basis for the development of ecotourism. Leisure oriented value added ecological planning of the area will help in optimal usage of natural resources to develop attractive recreation spots (Rajagopal and Rajagopal, 2009). Developing countries are always facing fund crisis for maintaining their natural resources like lakes, wetlands and forests. Ecotourism combining lakes, wetlands, forests and wildlife may be used as a tool to promote overall tourism and biodiversity conservation. There is a need to properly utilise the received ecotourism revenue for the betterment of the resources responsible for providing ecotourism.

7 Conclusions

The Sukhna Lake of City Beautiful is an important tourist destination of north India. The lake contains water of reasonably good quality which is fit for wildlife, tourism and recreational purposes. Social benefit–cost analysis, which considers non-market tourism benefits along with marketed benefits of the lake, indicates that benefits of the lake far exceed the costs incurred by Chandigarh administration on its conservation. There is, therefore, a need to further intensify the lake conservation efforts by improving the lake catchment in the form of vegetative and engineering measures for soil and water conservation. This can be done by diverting excess revenue earned from the lake activities resulting in better biodiversity in the lake catchment and subsequent water quality in the lake. There must be a complete ban on construction activities in the catchment area and domestic waste water from catchment villages should not be allowed to enter the lake.

Acknowledgements

One of the authors (PC) would like to express gratitude to National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi for sponsoring him to pursue two years M. Tech. programme (2011–2013) in ‘Environmental Management of Rivers and Lakes’ being offered by Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. The authors also express


sincere thanks to the officials of Department of Forests and Wildlife, Department of Environment, CITCO, Engineering department and Horticulture division of Engineering department, Chandigarh administration for providing facts, figures and various valuable data about the lake for this study.

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