Sector 42 lake stands dry as poor design drains Chandigarh's water planning

Indian Express

12 hours ago

Written by Aishani Chauhan and Divyanshi Thakur
While Chandigarh projects itself as a model of smart and sustainable planning, the New Lake in Sector 42 tells another story.
Built in 2008 for Rs 3 crore to host religious events and collect rainwater for the city's southern sectors, the man-made lake today lies dry for most of the year. With no natural water source and dependent on tube wells that deplete the water table, it has become a symbol of the city's faltering water management.
Staff at the site say the lake serves little purpose beyond being filled briefly during festival season. 'Even when it's filled for Chhath Puja, it's emptied soon after the festival,' said Balkar, a worker at the site. Another staffer, Anil, added that internal complaints are met with threats. 'We've told officials about the problems many times. But if word gets out about who complained, they say we'll be fired'.
This year, the lake has not been filled even once. Power supply to the area was cut off on June 3 over a pending electricity bill of Rs 2.5 lakh.
'A waste of resources'
Environmentalists have questioned the practice of pumping potable groundwater into a structurally inadequate artificial lake. 'It makes no sense to keep pumping drinking water from tube wells into an artificial lake that doesn't serve any real utility,' said Rahul Mahajan, founder of the Organic Sharing Foundation. 'It's not just a waste of taxes — it is a waste of natural resources.'
Swadesh Talwar, veteran photo editor, pointed out that a seasonal drain, the N-Choe, flows past the site. 'That rainwater is discharged out of the city, unused, while crores are spent extracting groundwater for a lake meant to be temporary. Residents with houses over 500 square yards must install rainwater harvesting systems,' Talwar said.
Talwar also highlighted a fundamental design flaw. 'The bed of the lake has been cemented over, which goes against basic ecological principles. Lake beds must be porous to allow rainwater to percolate and recharge groundwater. Cementing stops that natural seepage and defeats the purpose. No natural lake is ever built that way. It's not just poor planning — it's a way to inflate costs and justify spending,' he explained.
Infrastructure overhaul needed
A senior technical expert, who requested anonymity, said converting the site into a functioning rainwater harvesting basin would require major redesign. 'You can't just divert stormwater into the lake. Without proper screening, filtration, and stormwater lines that are not connected to sewage, silt and trash will collect, reducing capacity and creating new problems.'
Pallav Mukherjee, a former member of the Municipal Corporation's water and sewerage committees, said he had proposed such lakes as stormwater buffers 15 years ago to counter falling groundwater levels. 'Sector 42 was meant to do that. But it is being filled with tube well water, not rainwater, which defeats the whole purpose. On a good rainy day, Chandigarh gets about one litre per square metre for every 10 mm of rainfall. That's a huge amount of water, and we are just letting it run off into drains.'
Currently, there is no system to channel runoff from surrounding sectors or roads into the lake. 'This lake is not designed to collect rainwater, and so it doesn't,' said Mahajan. 'Instead, it functions as a yearly ritual site at a massive environmental cost.'
Repeated attempts to contact C B Ojha, Chief Engineer with the Chandigarh Administration, for comment went unanswered.
(Aishani Chauhan and Divyanshi Thakur are interns with The Indian Express)