Explained: Why Naini Lake is seeing record-low water levels this year

With its deepest point at 89 feet, the Naini Lake has a gauge level of 12 feet. The Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan extracts 10 million litres everyday from the lake to supply drinking water to the city.

For many years now, alarm bells have been sounded about the lake’s depleting water levels. This time, a decrease in snowfall and rainfall in the winter months has played a role, compounded by long-term issues surrounding the lake’s upkeep.

Central to Nainital

The Naini Lake is a natural kidney-shaped lake in the heart of Nainital, surrounded by seven hills. It is said that English businessman P Barron chanced upon it around the mid-19th Century, spurring the town’s development as a hill station for the British.

Vishal Singh, an environmental scientist at the Centre for Ecology Development and Research in Nainital, told The Indian Express that 76% of the city’s water demand was met by the Naini Lake in 2024. However, pressure from an increasing population, the increase in tourist activity, and commercialisation of nearby areas have impacted its health.

According to researchers Nidhi Singh, Vishal Singh, and Anvita Pandey, Nainital’s aging water distribution network has struggled to keep up with the demand. (‘Impact of institutional overlapping on water governance of Himalayan City, Nainital, India’, 2024).

A 2017 report from the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology found that compared to other Kumaon lakes, Naini Lake “is subjected to the greatest man-made manipulations”. It cited unplanned construction, encroachment, and degradation of recharge zones as key factors. The construction of concrete structures nearby further causes low rainwater infiltration, worsened by the low rainfall in some years.

“Enhancing siltation, dumping debris in Sukhatal Lake, which is a major aquifer recharge area for Naini Lake, [is] causing the lake to shrink from its two-hectare area,” the report added. Encroachments and illegal construction have reduced the catchment area, with houses and hotels coming up near the lake.

There are other civic issues also. For instance, pollution from the discharge of untreated wastewater, improper disposal of solid waste, and inadequate sewer systems causing sewage to overflow into stormwater drains, which ultimately discharge into the Naini Lake.

Changing weather patterns

Climate change has a bearing on prevailing weather patterns. Delhi-based organisation Climate Trends found that annual mean temperatures in Uttarakhand have increased by nearly 1.5 degrees Celsius between 1970 and 2022. Experts say the warming is affecting rainfall and snowfall.

In 2022, which was considered a good year in terms of precipitation, Uttarakhand received an annual rainfall of 2400 mm, which fell to 2000 mm in 2024. DD Sati, an Irrigation Department assistant engineer, said Nainital received 107 mm of rainfall between January and March this year, which was lower than the 2022 levels. While the three winter months had four snowfall days in 2022, there were none in 2025.

Vishal Singh said the lake reached zero level only twice in the 1900s. However, since 2000, the zero level has reached over 10 times already. He said, “Earlier, rainfall was milder, and the seepage capacity of the land was better. Since it has been built over, if the rainfall is intense, there is speeding and overflowing of stormwater.”

Need for rejuvenation

Several petitions have been filed concerning the lake, with one of the earliest going to the Supreme Court in 1993. The court held that projects of commercial complexes should be banned in Nainital. However, petitioner Ajay Rawat, a former professor at Kumaun University, said construction had not stopped.

“Homestays have been permitted, and almost every third house is a homestay. Construction has been done on wetlands as well… Water is stored here for six months and serves as an important source for the lake during the lean period,” he said.

In 2021, retired Kumaun University professor Anil Bisht wrote a letter flagging a project to revamp Sukhatal Lake. This was converted into a PIL by the Uttarakhand High Court. The petition noted citizens’ concerns about the concretisation of the lake bed. In November 2022, the HC placed a suspension on further construction, but work resumed in 2024 after the HC permitted completion of the lake’s beautification in three months.

Singh said the natural environment must be factored in while undertaking future developmental activities in the region. “One has to understand the catchment area, its critical recharge zones, and what construction is happening in the slopes of the catchment… Conservation plans meant to address this issue fail as there is no ecosystem-based approach.” Rather than governments focusing on increasing tourism, the rejuvenation of natural processes of the lake and nearby rivers should be prioritised, he added.