Waste management at Naini lake

The people of Nainital have switched to scientifically designed waste management to restore the lost grandeur of the Naini Lake. Nainital, a hill resort at 2,000 meters above the sea level in Kumaon hills, is named after Naini Lake, which enhances beauty of the township. It has 60 lakes, out of which about 40 lakes have disappeared because of deforestation, pollution and a general lack of awareness.

With increasing inflow of tourists and urban waste making its way into it, Naini lake’s water quality has been deteriorating alarmingly, despite the efforts of the authorities to clean the lake, resulting in its shrinking. The lake is the sole source of drinking water for the town and increasing contamination has threatened the availability of potable water to the town. The discharge of sewage into the lake has also adversely affected the water ecology. In a bid to conserve the water body, the residents have now switched on to scientifically designed garbage disposal system.

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Under the project named ‘Mission Butterfly’, the sweepers collect waste from each and every household and then directly transfer it to the compost pits where it is converted to manure. Apart from the residents, schools have extended full cooperation to the authorities, to save its precocious eco-system.

If Nainital has still remained a tourist’s paradise, the credit largely goes to its centrally located Naini Lake, but now its existence is also under threat.