NAUKUCHIYATAL LAKE
Cradled by densely forested mountains, Naukuchiyatal Lake, the mystique “lake of nine corners”, is situated at 1,219 metres above sea level in the northern State of Uttarakhand’s Nainital area close to the famed Corbett country. A folklore associated with this misty blue lake is that whoever can spot all the nine corners at one go will attain Nirvana. The old gazetteers described the area east of 2,637-meter (8,569 feet) high Cheena peak, overlooking Nainital Lake, as “the district of sixty lakes”. In the introduction to his book, “My India”, Jim Corbett wrote that “many of these lakes have silted, some in my life time, and the only ones of any size that now remain are Naini Tal, Sat Tal, Bhim Tal and Naukuchia Tal”.
The “Lake District”, in the Kumaon Himalayas, comprising 8 lakes and ponds including Naukuchiyatal, is located in the foothills above and adjacent to the Terai and Bhabhar area. It forms the core of the entire region and has more than 60 percent forest cover. Ecologically, the lake region is unique and has no parallel in the entire Himalayan range. The richness of its fauna and flora makes it practically a “biodiversity hot spot” It is the watershed of Sat Tal, Bhimtal and Naukuchiyatal lakes and the primary source of Gola and Kalsa river basins that drain the Bhabhar region providing drinking and irrigation water right up to the plains below. During summer, when rivers and streams are reduced to a trickle, the lakes provide the bulk of the water to the plains.
Fed by perennial underground spring and supplemented by run-offs from the surrounding forests and hills, the Naukuchiyatal is a closed water system. Though relatively small in size, around 0.65 square kilometers (65 hectares), its depth of 110 meters makes it the area’s deepest lake. It has a variety of micro fauna and flora, and macro-vegetation like the species of Hydrilla and Nymphaea. Silver carp, Gambusia, etc. constitute the 90 percent of fish population while Mahaseer and other commercial fish make up the rest.
Naukuchiyatal is one of the cleanest lakes today in the central Himalayas. However, its survival is threatened by continuing deforestation, unbridled urbanization and increasing population pressure.
Coordinator: V K Madhavan, Executive Director, CHIRAG, Village Simayal, Nainital District; Email: madhavan@chirag.org.
