An 18-acre (7.2 hectares) lake held pride of place at Wazirabad, located right in the heart of Gurugram, a satellite city in the National Capital Region (NCR) of Delhi. The village of Wazirabad is today a part of the posh Sector 52 of Gurugram with multi-crore condominiums, upmarket showrooms, and some of the most expensive real estate properties in the country.
Like it has been with other big cities, the rise of Gurugram has been at the cost of its water bodies. There was a time when a network of lakes dotted the forested landscape of the Aravalli hill range where the satellite town is located. They collected the excess water, recharged groundwater, and drained the runoff. But not anymore, as several of these lakes have been encroached and destroyed willfully.
At least 153 water bodies in Haryana’s Gurugram district have all but vanished and remain only faint memories. A report by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), says these lakes were beyond “recovery or revival”.
The waterbody in Wazirabad village — commonly known as Wazirabad lake (official documents mention Wazirabad Nala) — too began to shrink with rapid urbanisation and haphazard development. Construction on its catchment and truckloads of debris being dumped at the lake site fractured the lake’s natural water channels and ran it dry.
But the lake has now come back to life and is thriving with aquatic species and migratory birds. “Our lake has jogging tracks and benches around it. Its water does not stink anymore as untreated sewage does not flow into it. There is an attached two-acre (0.8 hectares) park with native trees, flowering plants, an open gym, and rides for children,” Neeraj Rajjan, a member of the local Resident Welfare Association (RWA), told Down To Earth (DTE).
This transformation would not have been possible had it not been for the intervention by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), a statutory body to handle environmental disputes in the country.
NGT pushed the GMDA to revive and restore the lake. SEEDS (Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society), a New Delhi-based non-profit that works with communities on building climate resilience, partnered with GMDA on the project.
Restoration works began in 2022 and the change has been remarkable. The local residents of Wazirabad are rejoicing at the clean-up of the lake they call Saraswati Kunj.
“When the lake was filled with sewage and debris, the house rents in our locality were not more than Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000 per month. But ever since the lake was revived, the rentals have shot up to Rs 15,000. Tenants are also happy to be living in the vicinity of a zinda [living] lake,” said Rajjan, who has been working as a property agent in Wazirabad for 15 years. He has been an eyewitness to the lake’s revival.
“Earlier, no one came near the lake, and it was a place for anti-social elements. Construction waste was dumped here. There was no boundary wall and there was always the danger of children falling into the waters. But now, women move around freely as anti-social activities like drinking in the open have stopped,” he added.
Rakesh Kumar, the maali (gardener) of the two-acre Lake View Park, recalled how “there were no trees here. It was an open barren land dumped with construction waste. But now, it has a park and a lot of people including children visit it daily,” he said as he watered the plants.
Seeing the benefits of the lake, the RWA has hired a security guard to look after the lake and the park, said Rajjan.
The Gurugram metropolitan area has 75 identified lakes of which 45 are being restored by GMDA with the help of various non-profits. It is a measure to address increasing urban flooding and the fast dipping groundwater levels in the region.
In 2022 GMDA and SEEDS came together to restore the Wazirabad lake and convert it into a recreational space with a focus on community involvement. SEEDS has a SURGE Initiative (SEEDS Urban Resilience, Governance, and Enablement), which focuses on community-driven interventions and innovative solutions to restore urban water bodies across India.
“Wazirabad lake is a part of the natural drainage system of the Aravallis in Gurugram. But its catchment has been blocked by development projects,” said Manu Gupta, co-founder of SEEDS. “One of the reasons to revive Wazirabad lake was to demonstrate how local urban residents can become a part of solutions, in this case to address an annual flooding problem. Micro solutions lead to macro ones, and everyone needs to act locally,” he told DTE.
“The Wazirabad lake had gone bone dry. But today, it has water all through the year. So, despite all the challenges in urban India, positive change is possible,” Gupta added.
Uma Joshi, programme associate with SEEDS, explained how the restoration work was carried out along with GMDA.
“The first step was demarcating and fencing the lake area to prevent it from being used as a dump site. The second step was removal of construction debris that has been dumped there for the past few years,” said Joshi. Nearly 500 trucks of construction and demolition waste were removed from the lake site.
It was also important to provide a recreation space around the lake so that local people could visit the water body and connect with it. “Thus, a Lake View Park was built on the two acres next to the lake with GMDA. It has become a hit with residents who regularly come there with their children. There is no entry fee,” said Joshi.
Abhishek Yadav of SEEDS said, “Walking paths over 2.5 kilometres long have been created along the lake so that visitors can enjoy the cool breeze. Native tree species have been planted to provide shade, and lemon grass, too, so that it is of use to the local residents.” Lemon grass also helps keep mosquitoes away.
According to GMDA, the municipal corporation has installed a 1.5 million-litres- per day (MLD) line to maintain water level in the lake permanently. “Gardening work uses treated wastewater. A viewing deck has also been built so that people can enjoy the view of the lake,” said Yadav.
According to NGT’s directive in 2018, GMDA carried out an extensive study and mapping of water bodies. An inventory of all the water bodies in the five tehsils or sub-districts (Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi, Farrukh Nagar and Manesar) of Gurugram district was compiled and submitted to NGT in May 2019.
According to the inventory, the district has a total of 644 water bodies, which cover an area of approximately 1,142 acres (462 hecatres), as mentioned in GMDA’s compliance report dated May 2, 2019. But 153 water bodies covering an area of 184 acres “have practically vanished beyond recovery or revival”. The report also indicates that 446 water bodies have “immense potential for restoration, development and management.”
The inventory notes that “about 20 per cent water bodies are at the risk of losing their serenity due to discharge of untreated sewage, industrial effluent and other waste water.” Maximum number and area of water bodies — 184 (484 acre) and 178 (401 acre) — are in Gurugram and Sohna tehsils, respectively.
Wazirabad lake is back to life, but the challenge is to keep it thriving. There is the constant threat of water hyacinth, the invasive aquatic plants, which sucks up oxygen, blocks sunlight, and makes water evaporate 2.5 times faster.