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Conservation and Management of Bhoj Wetland (Upper Lake ) of Bhopal, India,

With Reference To Integrated Lake Basin Management

Vipin Vyas, Shriparna Saxena and Pradeep Shrivastava

Department of Limnology, Barkatullah University, Bhopal 462 026 (India)

Email: secvip@yahoo.co.in

Abstract:

The Upper lake of Bhopal, a part of Bhoj Wetland, is a

thousand years old multiple use waterbody supports

various activities and hence has a multiple stakeholder

community including common people, governmentaland non-governmental agencies. The lake has been

facing serious problems mainly of sewage inflow and

siltation of man-made nature and profuse growth of

macrophytes as ecological process. The lake having an

area of 32 sq km receives water from a vast catchment of

approx. 370 sq km with urban and rural parts. Most of

the catchment is of rural in nature and has great impact

on lake ecology whereas the urban catchment is mainly

responsible for entry of untreated sewage. A massive

restoration plan has been completed on the lake with the

assistance of JBIC. Desilting and deweeding, diversion

and treatment of sewage, catchment area treatment and

afforestation were the main components of the project

but the results are still not satisfactory. There is a

growing concern among the residents of Bhopal

regarding the sustainability of the restoration plan of the

lake. In the opinion of the authors Integrated Lake Basin

Management is the only solution and this approach

should be adopted in case of Bhoj Wetland also. The

present paper emphasizes on ILBM approach in relation

to conservation and Management of Bhoj Wetland

(Upper Lake) and suggests some possible options for the

conservation community.

Key Words: Bhoj Wetland, ILBM, Sustainability,Conservation

1. Introduction

Water-bodies have been the witnesses of developmentof human civilizations. Many known civilizations of the

world sprouted in river valleys.

Aquatic resources in recent years have received a great

deal of attention in our country, an important source

capable of sustaining valuable natural flora and fauna.The main stream of research in our country is focused on

the management and conservation aspects. Scientists

working in universities and research institution studied

various aspects of wetland ecosystems which served asbaseline data to identify problems associated to wetlands

to chalk out a sound management plan.

Long considered as unproductive and reluctant areawetlands were drained, filled and dried for finding

solutions of food and shelter for ever increasing human

population.

2. Description of the Study Area:

The Upper lake or Bada Talab is in the heart of Bhopaland is the lifeline of this capital city of Madhya Pradesh.

It was created by constructing an earthen dam (which

separates the Upper lake from Lower lake) on seasonal

river Kolans by Raja Bhoj of Dhar in the 11th

CenturyA.D. (1010-1055 A.D.) It is the most magnificent of all

the lakes and reservoirs in this region and has been alonesource of drinking water supply to the 20 lac population

of the capital until the recent past. The water is drawnfrom various parts of the lake and is being treated in 5

water works units controlled by independent authorities.

The lake is dammed at two places (i) in eastern partnear Kamla Park and (ii) in the southern part at

Bhabhada weir, where there are eleven sluice gates to letout the excess water from the lake into a channel, whichlater on connects into a small river known as Kaliasot.

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The south-eastern side of the lake is bounded by Shamla

Hills, Van Vihar and the north-eastern side by MedicalCollege, Koh-e-Fiza and Ahmedabad hills. A suburban

township called Bairagarh is located at the western sideof the lake. Besides this a large number of houses and

huts of the slum dwellers were located on the north andBairagarh, Khanugaon and Hamidia Hospital. The lake

has been designated as Ramsar site.

Morphometry of Upper lake :

The upper lake is an east-westerly elongated man-made shallow lake with irregular margins and luxuriant

growth of aquatic vegetation.

The lake area is bounded between the latitudes 20010-

23020 and longitudes 77015-77025 as shown in the

Survey of India toposheet No. 55 E/7 and 55 E/8. Thelake is situated at an altitude of 532 metres above themean sea level. Some of the important morphometric

features of the lake are as follows :

Table 1: Morphometry of Upper Lake

Feature Unit

Catchment area 362 sq km

Submerged area 30.72

Maximum length 12.50 km

Maximum width 5 km

Maximum area 32 sq km

Minimum area 12 sq km

Maximum shoreline 40.590 km

Maximum depth 8.8 m

Mean depth 3.17 m

Maximum water level MSL 508.65 m

Dead storage level MSL 503.65 M

River bed level MSLA 499.39 M

Volume 101540400m3

3. Ecological Aspects of the Upper Lake:

The lake supprts a rich biodiversity with incres its

ecological significance as a wetland. Following are someimportant ecologic features of the lake:

Phytoplankton: 208 species Zooplankton: 115 species Fish fauna : 43 species Avifauna: 179 species Insects: 98 species Reptiles and Amphibians: 10 species

4. Uses of Upper Lake

Upper lake is a multiple use waterbody and being usedfor various purposes:

Drinking Water Supply: About 35% of the city

population is still dependent on Upper lake for drinkingwater supply governed by Bhopal Municipal Corporation

(BMC). In addition to this Military township and

Railways are using the water for drinking and other

purposes

Fishery Resources: The lake supports a rich fish

resource. 35 species of fishes have been reported from

the Upper Lake. About 200 fishermen families aredependent on fish resources of the lake and the catch of

the lake is major source of fish to the local resident. The

Bhojpal Fishermen Cooperative Society, a cooperativesociety of the local fishermen is the leasee of the lake

issued every year by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation.

Trapa Cultivation: The fishermen community has been

traditionally growing Trapa (Water Chestnut) in the lake.About 100 ha of the lake area chiefly near Khanugaon is

under trapa cultivation.

Tourism and Recreation: The lake has been a touristhotspot for the local residents. Motorised, rowing and

pedal boats have been introduced by the State Tourism

Development Corporation and private boat owners in the

lake with the permission of Bhopal MunicipalCorporation. Several Food Joints have also come-up on

the banks of the lake.

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Wildlife Habitat: About 45 ha of the lake area on the

southern bank of the lake falls in the Van Vihar NationalPark, a wildlife conservation park notified under Wildlife

Protection Act 1972 . A large number of waterbirdinhabit the lake belonging to 42 species and about 25 of

them are migratory in nature.

Research and Education: The lake has been a subject

of research and education for educational institutions and

NGOs engage in environmental education in the city.Department of Limnology of Barkatullah University,

Bhopal is the key institution engaged in the limnological

studie of the lake for the past 30 years.

5. Multiple Stakeholders of the Lake

As stated earlier the lake is a multiple use waterbody

hence it has a multiple stakeholder community.

1. Govt. Agencies. BMC, Distt administration, railways,PHE, Tourism, Wildlife, Housing and Environment.

2. Civil Society: NGOs

3. General Community.

4. Educational and Research Institutions

5. Fishermen and trapa cultivators

6. Problems associated with lake and

conservation efforts done so far

The lake has been facing the following problems

Reduction of Storage Capacity and Waterspread Area due to siltation.

Inflow of Sewage and waste water from theCatchment area.

Encroachment in Catchment Area Agricultural Activities based on chemical

fertilizers & pesticides.

Excessive growth of Aquatic Plants. Immersion of Idols and Tajias during festivals. Threat to Aquatic Life (Bio-diversity).

The state government initiated a massive conservation

and management plan with the Japanese assistance. JBIC

(Japan) provided Rs. 247 crores for various activities

uder the project including desilting and deweeding,afforestation, Cathment area treatment, Sewage diversion

and treatment, Solid waste disposal and Awarenessgeneration etc.

7. Basin Scenario of the Lake :

The lake has a catchment area of 370 sq. km spreading

in two administrative districts, Bhopal and Sehore. Thecatchment area can be easily categorized in rural (70%)

and urban (30%) catchment with different landuses and

impacts.

Land use/cover

Information on land use/ cover pattern, especially the

extent and spatial distribution is a prerequisite tounderstand the catchment characteristics. The land

use/cover information help in formulation of policies and

programmers for wetland management. The details

related to land use/cover pattern in the study area aresummarised below:

Table 2 : Land use/ land cover types and area

statistics.

Sr. Landuse types Area (ha)

1998

1. Built up land 2751

2. Agriculture land 10760

3. Fallow land 1249

4. Open scrub (with or with out scrub) 5171

5. Plantation 120

6. Barren rocky 273

7. Open forest 503

8. Water bodies / River 2435

9. Marsh 522

10. Aquatic vegetation sparse 238

11. Aquatic vegetation dense 357

12. Other vegetations 574

TOTAL 36181

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Built-up land:

The physical extent of the total built-up land is about

2751 ha. around Bhoj wetland in 1998. Most of the

built-up area is part of Bhopal city as this wetland lies in

the heart of Bhopal city. There is an increase of 707 ha.in the built up area from 1988 to 1998 and it is mainly in

the southern part of the lake.

Agricultural land:

Agriculture is the predominant land use in thecatchment and it is around 24338 ha. in 1988 and

21009 ha. in 1998 which includes both standing crop and

fallow land. The land use/cover map of 1988 is preparedusing two seasons (pre and post monsoon) satellite data,

whereas the 1998 map is prepared using single date. The

area under standing crop is 10760 ha. The agricultural

land has been further categorized into crop land andfallow. The area under fallow land is about 12484 ha.

during 1998. The area under this category is highly

fluctuating and it is mainly attributed to scanty rain fallin the catchment and undulating terrain.

Land use/cover map on 1:50 000 scale was prepared

for the catchment. These maps provide information onforests, shrubs and other land use such as agricultural

land, wastelands etc. The area statistics of land use/

cover is given in Table given below.

Open forest and plantation:

The area under forest (Open) 503 ha and it has not

changed. Plantation accounts 76 ha in 1988 and 120 ha in

1998. There is an increase of an area of 44 ha. This is

mainly due to a forestation in the waste land areas andagro forestry. However, they are very much scattered and

are in small extents.

Wasteland:

The area under the barren rocky and open scrub is

included in this category. it is about 5444 ha. in 1998while in 1988 6037 ha. These waste lands are mainly

located on the undulating areas and around stony wastes.

Urban Catchment area:

The Urban portion of the catchment constitutes about

18% area of the Bhopal city inhabited by 20%

population of the city spread over in 23 wards out of 66municipal wards of the city.

Problems associated with urban catchment area: As

stated earlier the urban area due to its landuse pattern

has higher population density having following mainproblems associated with urban area.

Sewage Generation and Disposal: Since the urban

catchment area harbours 20% of the city population it produces 20% of the sewage of the cit as well. Earlier

theis area mainly comprising of old city had no sewarege

system and dry toilets were prevalent in the area. Later,some of the dry toilets have been converted into flush

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toilets connected to individual septic tanks. The outflows

of the tanks were either left into the saokpits or againconnected to open drains which ultimately join the lakes.

Some measures were taken to

The old Bhopal area has a sewer network of 23.5 km

length laid under the Prevention of Pollution of UpperLake scheme with diameters varying from 150mm to

1200mm. This system is almost 30 years old and

currently not functioning properly. This network hassewage pump houses at Khanugoan, Ahemdabad,

Fateghar, Bhoipura and Ginnori. The out fall of this

network is in the Patra Nala and a sewage treatment plant

at Maholi Dhamkheda constructed under the BhojWetland Project. Renovation of these old SewagePumping Stations have also been done under the Bhoj

Wetland Project. No records of the complete sewer

network in the Old City area are currently available.

The Bairagarh area has a sewer network of 16.22 kmlength laid by PHE department, the diameters varying

from 150mm to 900mm, with sewage pump houses at

Sehore Naka and Laukheri and an Oxidation pond atGandhi Nagar. This sewer network has been upgraded

and connected to the newly laid sewer system under the

Bhoj Wetland Project.

The Bhoj Wet Land Project was conceived to prevent pollution of Upper and lower Lakes caused by sewageflows through the drains in the catchments areas of these

lakes. A large part of city area comprising 23 municipal

wards (ward no. 1to7, 23, 25to30, 34, 37&38) andaprox.20% population with aprox.18 % area of total cityis covered under the project. It is learnt that the sewerage

system commissioned under Bhoj Wetland project has

been designed only to cater to dry weather flows. As the pumping stations do not have capacity to handle flows

during the monsoon period, these are discharged into

Upper Lake, which causes pollution of the Upper Lake.

Independent sewer networks in three areas of GandhiNagar, Maholi and Kotra have been completed under the project, each of the area has sewage pumping stations,

collection system and sewage treatment plant (STP).

Approx.62 Km of gravity sewers, 23.54 Km of force

main, 8 SPSs and 4 Sewage Treatment Plants had beenconstructed under the Bhoj wet land Project. Renovation

of some old Sewage Pumping Stations was also carried

out under the Bhoj Wetland Project.

Areas Served by Septic Tanks

Septic Tanks are the most common system for sewagedisposal in the city. In the Areas not served by thegravity sewer network, large section of population

discharge wastewater into septic tanks, soak pits or open

drains The development of city in a piecemeal manner inthe form of colonies of various agencies and cooperative

societies have prompted these individual entities to havetheir own sewer systems in the form of septic tanks and

soak pits either in isolation or individual capacity or incollective groups. If it is in collective groups, such as

housing societies, colonies, institutional or commercial

establishments, they have formed an internal sewage

system with septic tank at the end. Overflow from septictank flows either to an adjoining city sewer or to open

drains or nallahs where no city sewers are available.

Rural Catchment area

The rural catchment area is harboring 86 villages

having 14000 households. Agriculture is the mainactivity in the area and 70% of the land in the catchment

is under cultivation. Animal husbandry is the second

main activity of the catchment.

Problems associated with rural areas:

Agriculture and its Impacts

Wheat, gram and soybean are the main crops in the

area.Vegetables are also cultivated by some farmers.

Before the onset of Green revolution probably before

1970 the agriculture practices in the catchment was

mainly organically based. But demand to grow morefood grain per unit area led to use of hybrid seed and

agro-chemicals in the agriculture practices. Adjoiningthe urban area and capital city Bhopal, the farmers have

direct and easy availability of agro-chemicals and

hybrid seeds. These agro-chemicals are normally used

without a scientific and judicious approach and finallyfind way into the lake. As a part of lake conservation

measures the Lake Conservation Authority of MP has

started an experimental activity promoting organic

farming by coordinating organic farm managementtechniques . Since the experiment was limited to use oforganic compost and did not address any other aspect

like sustained supply of organic manure, certification oforganic products and incentives to compensate the initial

losses.

Soil Erosion and Siltation:

Repeated tillage in the agriculture field and

unvegetated wasteland are prone to erosion of top soil

during rainy season and this silt is diverted to the lake by

the inlet channels and rivulets. Kolans and Uljhavan, twomain rivulets drain the entire rural catchment into the

lake.

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Afforestation and construction of civil structures was

undertaken by the Bhoj wetland project in the ruralcatchment area on mass scale. To control inflow of silt

from the catchment area and thereby reduce siltaccumulation and pollution in the lakes 75 silt traps and

2 check dams were constructed across 31 inlet channelsin the rural catchment. A massive afforestation

programme was undertaken by Bhoj Wetland project and

1.7 million plants were planted in about 1000 ha area

creating a three-tier buffer in the lake periphery. Thisincludes roadside and river embankment plantation.

8. ILBM Principles in the Context of Upper

Lake:

The basic concept of ILBM is based on six pillarsapproach. Following is the scenario of Upper Lake in

this context.

A. Institutions: There are several governmental agencieswhich are involved in utilization, management and

conservation aspects of the Upper lake. Recently, Lake

Conservation Authority of MP has been constituted bythe Housing and Environment Department of Govt. ofMP being the nodal agency for lake conservation activity.

This agency can work as a coordinating agency for other

related departments like, Bhopal Municipal Corporation,

Bhopal Development Authority, District Administration,Town and Country Planning Department, Zila Panchayat,

Agriculture Department, Irrigation Department, Capital

Project Administration, Forest Department, WildlifeDepartment, Tourism Development Corporation,

Ecotourism Board etc.

B. Policies: The constitution of India categoricallyemphasizes on protection of our natural wealth including

water through its various articles. Various acts and rules

have also been enacted by the central and state govts. in

this connection. Mainly the following legal instrumentsare in force to provide specific guidelines for lake

conservation:

1. The Environmental (Protection ) Act : 1986 and rules

formulated therein.

2. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,

1974 and Rules 1975 with ammendmends made in 1978and 1988.

3. The Wildlife Protection Act : 1972

Recently, the Wetland Bill passed by the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests (Govt. of India) also which is

also a powerful instrument for wetland management.

C. Peoples Participation: Since there is a clear-cut

demarcation of rural and urban catchment in the case ofUpper lake of Bhopal, the former being the direct user of

the lake and the later being considered to be the polluter,there is a possibilities of conflict between the two. This

envisages the role of civil society in the conflictresolving and developing a linkage between the two.

Although there are many civil society organizations are

working in this area but most of them are limited to the

conservation issue in urban area only.

D. Technological Possibilities: In the present context of

Upper lake there are two types of main problems which

require technological interntions; one is sewagediversion and another is catchment area treatment. Inaddition there is a need to improve eco-friendly

technologies for aquaculture and tourism so that a

sustainable livelihood opportunities can prevail for thecommunities directly dependent on the lake. Sewage

treatment require modern technologies for faster and

complete treatment of sewage and its reuse in irrigationand other purposes. Organic farming and afforestation

also require technical input for sustainability.

E. Knowledge Sources: Availability of knowledge baseis a prerequisite for anyound management paln for any

waterbody. Fortunately, Department of Limnology was

established in the Bhopal University in 1980 and

research activities were started on lakes of Bhopal. Aproject sponsored by Man and Biosphere Committee of

Ministry of Environment of Forests (Govt. of India) in1984 was a major knowledge base for the decisionmakers to start lake conservation activities. Later, many

such studies paved way to identify the problems of the

lakes and its possible solutions which culminated into amassive conservation plan for Bhoj wetland.

F. Sustainable Finance: It has been experienced in the

cases where external funding was mobilized for lake

conservation, no post project sustainability could beensured due to lack of budgetary provisions. In case of

Upper lake the JBIC support ended with some left over

fund which is being used to generate interest to run the

functioning of Lake Conservation Authority of MP. Thiscan be a model approachut still need due attention of

authorities. Since the lake has a multiple stakeholders

from governmental level also, separate budgetaryprovision can be made for each department which can be

spent in coordination of LCA-MP.

9. Possible Options and Solutions: -

he process of adopting ILBM approach has already

been started in Bhopal with special reference to Bhoj

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Wetland. Recently, a brain storming session was

organized by the Barkatullah University, Bhopal inassociation with ILEC, Japan, IAAB, Hyderabad and

LCA-MP. This session was attended by a diverse groupof stakeholders. The recommendations of the session can

be considered as possible options and solutions:

1. For effective conservation, emphasis shouldshift from lake to basin for long term

sustainability of lake ecosystem. ILBM isidentified as an effective startagy for this

purpose.

2. Bhoj Sarovar Samvardhini will be establishedas the ILBM platform for future actions. It will

be a common platform involving diverse stake

holders and also will act as a thin tank to

generate ideas for long term sustainability oflake ecosystems.

3. Lake Pollution Index (LPI) based on selectparameters will be developed for Bhoj wetland

for effective identification of degradation and

effective interventions.

4. Eco-technologies and other ecologicalinterventions should complement technology

based conservation measures.

5. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) needto be more rigorously undertaken before any

developmental acitivtes in and around a lake.Prsent EIA procedure needs to be made moreeffective.

6. Ways and means need to be explored to enhanceinterest of common man in the lakes and their

management. An annual lake festival could beorganized mainly to inform people on

environmental status of the lake.

7. University and professional collge students cantake up projects on dofferent aspects of lake

ecosystem and help in generating knowledgeresources.

8. A synergy needs to be established between basin and lake communities. This will requiremuch more imagination and innovation.

References:

P. Shrivastava and G.H. Joshi, Status Report of Upper

Lake of Bhopal, Submitted to EPCO, 1992

P. Shrivastava, G.H. Joshi, Vipin Vyas and Abha Swarup,

Observations on the Management of A Tropical WetlandEcosystem, J. Hydrobil. Vol. X, No. 1. 15-28, 1994

V. Valecha, V. Vyas and R. Valecha, Rehabilitation of

The Twin Lakes of Bhopal, In Ecology and Pollution of

Indian Lakes and Reservoirs P K Misha Ed. Pp 93-97,1995.

M. Sahadevan, V. Vyas and P. Shrivastava, Biodiversityof Aquatic Vegetetation in Upper Lake of Bhopal, In

Conservation of Aquatic Resources. S. N. Dwivedi Ed.

Pp 135-142, 2000

Amit Chaurasia, Landuse/ Landcover Pattern in the

Catchment Area of Upper Lake of Bhopal, M.Sc.Dissertation submitted to Barkatullah University, Bhopal

(India), 2000

M.S. Kodarkar, Bhoj Wetland of Bhopal, In Brain

Storming Session on ILBM, Pp 60-62, 2009

S.M. Mishra, Conservation and Management of Bhoj

Wetland of Bhopal, India, In World Lake Vision Action

Report (ILEC), Pp 168-180, 2007

R. K. Bisaria, Sewage Treatment System of Bhopal,

M.Sc. Disseratation submitted to Sikkim ManipalUniversity, India. 90 Pp, 2009