if sustained restoration plans are not put in place, the beautiful Kodaikanal lake will be dead soon. The artificial lake on a 26-hectare marshy land has been utterly neglected and is fast degrading. The water level of the lake with a perimeter of 4.8 km has receded from 11 metres to eight metres.

The water of the lake has been polluted by sewage and effluents drained into it by hotels and residences located nearby. This has affected its marine life as the oxygen content in the water has plummeted alarmingly. Although the lake was desilted and deweeded in 1996, there is no long-term sustained strategy to depollute the lake.

Manivannan, a biologist, says that apart from the lake water, trees around the lake have been destroyed by atmospheric pollution. Revenue official Pon Muthu reveals that a Rs 15-crore desilting plan and a master plan under the national lake conservation programme are yet to see the light of the day.