Anthropogenic impacts on lakes and measurement of Traphic Level : A comparative study of Ramgarh (Urban) and Chilua (Rural) Lakes of Gorakhpur Districut, U.P.

Abstract

Lakes not only provide direct benets like drinking water, irrigation, shes, aquatic crop
production, recreation etc. but indirect benets also like, regulation of hydrological cycle, local
climate control, maintenance of ecological biodiversity etc. But encroachment and waste
disposal, the major anthropogenic activities have determined the lake's condition and its
capability to render the ecological services. Ramgarh and Chilua lakes are ox-bow lakes situated
at the centre and north-eastern end of Gorakhpur district respectively in Uttar Pradesh. Both lakes
are inuenced by anthropogenic activities of encroachment and waste disposal. Respective
toposheets and google earth images are used to trace out the encroachments. The eld survey was
executed in 2018 to locate the waste disposal points and to collect samples and trophic status index
measured using Carlson index. The quality and volume of water of Ramgarh Lake were good, as
per local people, up to 1980s while Chilua lake it had maintained it up to 2005, but thereafter,
human impacts have pushed the lakes at the edge of depletion. During 1922 to 2018, about 34.16
per cent area of Ramgarh lake (urban) and 24.93 per cent area of Chilua lake (rural) had been
occupied by people for different purposes. The urban (Ramgarh) lake water quality is eutrophic to
hyper-eutrophic and rural (Chilua) lake water is mesotrophic to eutrophic due to rapid unplanned
urbanization, commercial layouts and agricultural practices. Encroachment in lake areas, sewage
and waste disposal, depletion of water quality, excess exploitation of biota from the lakes had been
seen as deteriorating factors. Alterations in ecological integrity were evident from reduced water
containing capacity, the ash of oods, contaminated water, obnoxious odour, copious growth of
invasive oating macrophytes, the disappearance of native sh species, increased breeding
ground for mosquito and other disease-causing parasites due to untreated sewage intake.