Odisha’s largest freshwater lake, Ansupa, which silted up following drastic reduction of water inflow from the Mahanadi, may soon get a new lease of life, thanks to holistic intervention initiated by the State government.
Chilika Development Authority, the nodal agency, has taken up restoration measures under funding from National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Ecosystems.
“We are proposing to dredge the mouth of Huluhala Nullah, the lifeline of the lake, connecting Ansupa with Mahanadi and also maintain the gradient of the water channel to ensure flow of Mahanadi water into the lake,” Sushanta Nanda, the CDA’s chief executive, told The Hindu on Saturday.
Nullah’s mouth is repeatedly silted up by sand being deposited by the meandering river. Experts believe the hydrological regime of the lake will improve after creation of passage for water through dredging.
Ansupa is the wintering ground of 32 species of migratory birds. Its water used to be so clean that it was serving both as a drinking water and irrigation supply source for villagers.
The lake being an ox-bow lake, an offshoot of the Mahanadi, was dependent on freshwater supply from the river during the rainy season.
The CDA chief said there had been almost no water supply to the lake since 2014 and the lake was choking itself to death. Now, the silted-up area has been encroached upon for paddy cultivation.
The water area of Ansupa lake as ascertained from the satellite imageries now varies between 375 acres and 385 acres depending upon the season. Now the waterspread area has reduced to only 500 sq. m and fishery resources are almost non-existent.
