Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) on Monday said it has started dredging of the settling basin using Pamposh Crawl Cat Suction Dredger.
A statement said the dredging of the basin was overdue since it was not carried out for the last around two decades.
“All these years, huge quantity of silt has got accumulated in the settling basin which has otherwise the carrying capacity of arresting 80,000 ton silt per annum coming from the catchment. Over these years about 1.25 mts thick layer of silt has got deposited in the settling basin,” the statement said.
It said this was of paramount importance to de-silt the settling basin having an area of about 0.12 sq km to clean it of silt and other unwanted material as it acts as a filter before the water goes into Dal Lake.
The statement said Dal has about 375 sq km of catchment area with forests and mountains.
“Apart from natural springs oozing water from the bed of the lake, the Tailbal nallah feeds about 70% of water which is one of the main fresh water feeding canal while passing through settling basin before culminating into the lake. The incoming water from the hilly terrains has a good quantum of soil content which settles on the bed of the settling basin in the form of sedimentation and sludge. In case, it is left unattended the silt will pass directly to the Lake thereby decreasing its depth,” said the statement.
It said in order to address the grave situation, the Suction Dredger available with the Authority has a capacity of removing about 120 cum silt per hour.
“It is expected that the Suction Dredger will clean the settling basin of silt within a year,” said the statement.
It said the dredging was kick-started by Vice Chairman LAWDA in presence of several officials.