Govt seeks to revive Charlotte Lake in Matheran

 

MUMBAI: The state government has made the decision to restore Matheran's Charlotte Lake, the only supply of drinkable water for the hill region. The project, which received permission from a state-level technical committee on March 13, 2023, will be implemented under the Center's Amrut 2.0 Abhiyan. It will also involve the creation of tourist infrastructure, such as building the dam wall, the approach, and plazas.

"Charlotte is a lake that was artificially created by the British," a municipal council officer from Matheran stated. It features a dam made of masonry and earth. Despite being on a plateau, the watershed has a steep drop of over 150 meters over a 1.5-kilometer region. The plateau's laterite cover renders the catchment extremely susceptible to erosion.

The officer said that the forest was being destroyed by the increased human interference in the lake catchment. "Soil erosion and a reduction in green cover have occurred," he stated. Environmentalists examined the lake conservation plan and proposed fixes like redesigning the culverts to lessen erosion and prevent silt from entering Charlotte Lake. Additionally, they have suggested nullah bunding and contour-trenching with native vegetation plantations. This can lessen erosion and help the catchment area's dense forest cover to return.

A Matheran resident named Sunil Shinde stated that while Simpson Tank and Charlotte Lake provided water for Matheran, only Charlotte Lake provided drinkable water. "We pay the highest water prices in the state—₹26 for personal use and ₹178 for commercial use per 1,000 liters,” he stated. Charlotte Lake is used to hold water that is pumped from the Ulhas River. We can store more water if these two lakes are cleaned up and made deeper.

The project is expected to cost ₹5 crore and would be finished in a year. Of this, the state will give ₹2.25 crore, the center will give ₹2.5 crore, and the Matheran Municipal Council will give ₹25 lakh.

The plan calls for clearing the canal bed of moist silt. Manoj Khedkar, the owner of the Radha Cottage hotel in the hill station, stated, "The silt removed from the lake must be reused for the conservation of trees, which have perpetually faced soil erosion, and for the conservation of the roads."