Environment & Ecology
Lakes of Delhi | Intekhab Alam
LA 58
An insight into a survey conducted through NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) in 2018, which comprised the study of twenty-nine out of the few surviving water bodies in the city of Delhi. The study helped in identifying a pond's regional, environmental and cultural significance, surrounding biodiversity and threats to its future survival. The results from the study were then used to formulate viable recommendations for its conservation so as to make the water body the asset it was meant to be as opposed to the liability it is condemned into being.
Across Delhi's history, one can see how its citizens have long reaped immense economic, military and environmental benefits through the successful management of the region's topographical and hydrological resources. The technological limitations of the past made certain that our ancestors developed a gradual understanding and learning of nature through incremental improvements and interventions. While the succeeding generations may have inherited the city's natural resources, they have, sadly, not inherited the knowledge of how valuable these resources are and why they need to be cared for. In the rush of fast paced development today, the natural resources of the city have been condemned to an unfortunate state of neglect and disregard.

One such valuable natural resource are the ponds, also called johads, which are traditional, community- owned catchments that store rainwater harvested throughout the year. The water from a johad is generally used for washing, bathing and drinking purposes by humans and their cattle. It also recharges the groundwater. They were an intrinsic part of a historic integrated system of water management. However, due to many complex factors, very few have survived but most of them have lost their ecological significance.



 


ISSUE NO: 58
report
Reimagining Landscapes
Identity | Approach | Stewardship
Isola 13th annual conference, Kochi, 2019

Rajesh George, Nupur Prothi Khanna and Nikhil Dhar

tribute
Remembering Nimish

Sohan Nilkanth

ecology & environment
Mapping a waste treatment landscape
East Kolkata wetlands

Dhruba Das Gupta


Land & Water
Udaipur: The city of lakes

Rupal Rathore


Lakes of Delhi
Intekhab Alam


competition
Auroville

Garden of the unexpected

Eyes on the canal
Buckingham canal open-ideas competition

profile
A site to behold

Sujata Kohli

conversation
Sustainable designs, unique identities

In Conversation with Shyam Khandekar

Imagining landscapes of social and
Ecological resilience

In conversation with Breck Gastinger


view from within
Those old days in these new Times

Geeta Wahi Dua

landscape design
Weaving culture through the Landscape
Tata Consultancy Services, Mihan, Nagpur

LSG Landscape Architecture and Green Space Alliance [GSA]

VILLA 270°
Harne, Dapoli, Maharashtra

Sparrow Landscape Initiative

seeing the unseen
Stories of everyday, everywhere and for everyone

PULP


book review
Look what we found when we planted seeds
Of curiosity!
UNESCO World heritage sites of India series

Review by Malvika Bajaj Saini























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