Joy And Relief As Lotus Flowers Bloom Again In Kashmiri Lake After Three Decades

Joy And Relief As Lotus Flowers Bloom Again In Kashmiri Lake After Three Decades

Joy And Relief As Lotus Flowers Bloom Again In Kashmiri Lake After Three Decades The lotus flowers on Wular lake – courtesy of Umar Dar Lotus flowers are blooming again in Kashmir’s historically largest lake, having been freed from the grasp of underwater silt that strangled them for 3 decades. The lake had already been shrunk dramatically by the conversion of shoreline and connected marshlands to agricultural areas by 1990. But in 1992, catastrophic flooding dumped thousands of tons of sediment into the lake, burying the lotus plant stems. These stems formed a major part of the local diet, and at the height of its productivity, the cottage industry of harvesting them sustained 5,000 local workers. The stems were cooked and served in several dishes, but the silt ended all of that. At the turn of the 20th century, Wural Lake spanned 84 square miles, but by 2007 it had diminished to just one-third of that. Willow cultivation along the banks ensured that over-sedimentation of the lake bottom …